By Thapelo Molefe
The Economic Freedom Fighters Molly Blackburn Sub Region has condemned what it calls the centralisation and “creeping privatisation” of student funding and accommodation by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), warning that the system is excluding poor students and exposing them to unsafe living conditions.
In a statement issued this week, the sub-regional chairperson Nkosiyoxolo Zane Mncam, said what is being presented as administrative efficiency has become “a bureaucratic weapon that excludes poor students, weakens accountability, and empowers unaccountable private actors at the expense of access and academic success”.
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The party raised concerns about the outsourcing of accommodation accreditation and inspections, saying that the move has destabilised student housing governance across campuses.
It cited Nelson Mandela University as an example, claiming the shift has undermined the institution’s concession model, which links accommodation, funding and student welfare.
According to the EFF, the university is now constrained from granting concessions for compliant on-campus residences and from using the 4% accreditation levy to assist unfunded but academically admitted students.
“Private inspectors carry no public mandate. They cannot negotiate in the public interest, balance social outcomes with academic needs, or advance equity for poor students,” Mncam said.
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The EFF further alleged that the outsourcing model has reduced student housing to “a transactional system of checklists and payment divorced from education, safety, and development,” and has opened space for corruption.
“Student leaders are increasingly co-opted to channel students into off campus accommodation through inducements and informal fees,” the party said.
It added that students are being placed in unsafe environments near crime, drugs and nightlife, while compliant on campus residences are marginalised in contradiction of standards set by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
The party also questioned the role of private companies such as Proficia IT in overseeing accreditation processes, asking how outsourcing advances the department’s mandate to ensure student access and success.
The sub region has demanded an immediate end to outsourced inspections, the restoration of institutional authority over accommodation and concessions, full transparency in accreditation and placements, and an independent investigation into private inspectors and alleged corrupt recruitment practices.
“Education is a public good. Student housing is part of the academic project, not a marketplace. NSFAS must fund access, not facilitate exploitation,” Mncam said.
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