Lerato Mbhiza
The board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has decided to terminate the contracts of all its four direct payment providers tasked to pay grants and allowances to students after a damning Werkmans Attorneys report found irregularities in the tenders awarded to the companies.
However, Nsfas sand it will ensure that the move doesn’t affect the payment of the grants to students.
The board’s chairman Ernest Khosa said they would also be writing to the Nsfas CEO Andile Nongogo and ask him to justify why his contract should not be terminated.
The scheme’s board chairperson, Ernest Khosa, briefed the media in Tshwane on Wednesday, where he said the board had accepted the recommendations of the interim report and resolved to implement them.
Khoza said Nsfas will adhere to the findings and the recommendations made by Werksmans Attorneys and Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC on the allegations of irregularities in the funding scheme.
Investigators found Nongogo had actively participated in choosing companies to disburse allowances to beneficiaries from the R47bn fund and the board said it would write to Nongogo and grant him an opportunity to advise on why his contract should not be terminated.
The companies, eZaga Holdings, Coinvest Africa, Norraco Holdings and Tenet Technology, were hired last year following a tender process and there were protracted student protests over allegations of late payments among other complaints.
According to Khoza, the findings in the report noted that there was no feasibility study before the implementation of the direct payment system, particularly the justification for the appointment of the service providers.
The report revealed that Nongogo participated in the presentation of proposals in the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC), which constituted a material violation of NSFAS’s public procurement processes.
The report also highlighted Nongogo’s appointment of Dr Chirwa as a technical advisor to the BEC, which was not in line with the 2021 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy. Although the 2023 SCM Policy allowed for such appointments, it was seen as a means to rectify the incorrect appointment, said Khosa.
Investigators also found that Chirwa is associated with companies that were appointed as service providers both at the Service SETA and at Nsfas.
“The first [decision] being to write to Mr Andile Nongogo and grant an opportunity to advise on why, in the light of the findings, his contract should not be terminated. We did that yesterday already,” said Khoza.
Khoza said the board had engaged the four companies and informed them of the report and the decision to terminate their contracts.
However, the companies had not been handed their copies of the report, which was also submitted to the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande.
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