By Edwin Naidu
The outgoing National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, deserves much praise for restoring stability and doing a relatively good job in his short stint.
Considering the mess he took over at NSFAS, one would have preferred that Nomvalo remained in the role to ensure continuity and stability at this crucial juncture. He was appointed in April 2024 because the board failed to perform its duties.
Legacy problems persist, as seen by the challenges faced by students at institutions throughout the country. Addressing the corruption chaos Nomvalo inherited, meant that he could not realistically have addressed all the issues confronting NSFAS.
Of course, it was not all plain sailing, but his job was premised on his rock-solid credentials. The sad accounts of students during the Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane’s nationwide visits to universities highlight the vast challenges that remain.
As the first African and longest-serving accountant-general in democratic South Africa, Nomvalo has extensive knowledge and a track record in public finance and government processes.
He served a five-year term as CEO of SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) until December 2023. He was appointed in 2019 after the accounting profession suffered a series of scandals, including the collapse of VBS Bank and Steinhoff and an audit of the infamous Gupta family companies. His reputation for good governance is impeachable.
That is why one hoped the minister would have done all in her power and in the national interest to retain Nomvalo.
Instead, the NSFAS now has a new board, which has appointed Waseem Carrim as the acting CEO, effective immediately following the end of the administrator’s term.
Carrim is currently the CFO of NSFAS and, until recently, the former CFO and CEO of the National Youth Development Agency, where he led the NYDA to nine consecutive clean audit outcomes.
They credit him with growing the youth agency from a R400 million to R1.5 billion budget.
NSFAS’s annual budget is more than R50 billion.
He is a former category winner of the SAICA 35-under-35 programme in 2016 and has been recognised as one of the 2018 Mail and Guardian 200 Young South Africans and as one of SADC’s Most Influential Young Leaders in 2019.
However, he shows no experience or understanding of the higher education sector, which is why his appointment is surprising. NSFAS is not a kindergarten.
Undoubtedly, the board has taken a chance on him because of his proven track record at the NYDA, which board chairperson Dr Karen Stander says enables him to lead NSFAS during this transition period.
“The board is confident that Mr Carrim will provide the stability and leadership needed to initiate the transition of NSFAS towards becoming the best international practice benchmark in student funding,” she said.
She said Carrim’s deep understanding for SEOs and his passion for youth development, which was evident in everything he did, also made him the appropriate choice for the role.
Stander and her team need time as a new board, as does Carrim, to prove himself. Considering the previous board failed to carry out its essential duties, one hopes that the latest team is equal, if not stronger, to the task of ensuring that there is no repetition.
NSFAS’s citing Carrim’s youth agency credentials as a reason for his appointment does not hold water, especially given the tough start to the 2025 academic year faced by hundreds of students, as expressed to the minister. He was already in the organisation and failed to oversee a trouble-free start.
In addition to overseeing day-to-day operations, NSFAS said that Carrim would work with the board to develop a strategic vision for the scheme’s future and ensure that it continued to deliver exceptional value to all students and stakeholders.
Fingers crossed the board and Carrim are mindful of the challenges ahead and that they’re in their roles because of their predecessors’ shenanigans and failure to “deliver exceptional value to all students and stakeholders”.
Denial of the challenges, especially past failures, and the enormous task ahead, should not mask their very existence.
One wishes Carrim the best in his role. However, despite Stander and NSFAS’s efforts to promote him as a weighty candidate, his credentials do not inspire confidence.
NSFAS is a R50 billion organisation – not a Mickey Mouse youth league.
Edwin Naidu is the Editor of Inside Education.
INSIDE EDUCATION
