LERATO MBHIZA
THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) met with the South African Students Congress (SASCO) to iron out problems surrounding defunded students and direct payments, NSFAS spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday after a meeting in Irene Pretoria.
Nsfas teams were dispatched to engage Student Representative Councils and University Management on direct payments and related matters. This comes after weeks long student protests.
The meeting also dealt with student complaints, such excessive charges, inaccessibility of the service providers, lack of clarity on how to access funds and allegations of funds not reaching their intended beneficiaries.
Nsfas said that it will not allow a system that was established in good faith, to be muddled with activities that defeat the purpose of direct payment and its spokesperson Slumezi Skosana said investigations will be conducted and where the allegations are proven true, appropriate action will be taken.
“Service providers will be instructed to increase their physical presence at institutions of higher learning so that they can respond directly to student queries on direct payment.
“There should be an immediate enhancement of explanations on how students can access their funds to avoid delays in the distribution of allowances” .
Skosana added that there will be a three-way meeting between student leaders, Nsfas management and the service providers on 11 July to iron out all relevant matters.
However he stressed that it should be kept in mind that the transactional costs are standard across all partners.
In addition, Nsfas urged students to complete their onboarding process to speedily access their Nsfas bank accounts by going to the Nsfas website, under the heading “For Students and Learners’ ‘ click on Nsfas Bank account (under student support). There they will find the name of their institution and can click on the register here button and then follow the prompts.
The EFF said “the inability of Nsfas to streamline its processes and ensure timely assistance has caused immense frustration and despair among those who rely on its support.
“Year in, year out, these failures have had far-reaching consequences, affecting the lives and aspirations of countless students”.
Furthermore, the EFF claimed that the new direct payment service provider which came with high recommendation from Nsfas management and the ministry of Higher Education, as an alternative for distributing funds for unfunded students.
However, up to date only a few students received allowances, and those who have, received less than what they deserved and with high transitions.
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