Lerato Mbhiza
Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has refuted allegations that he received kickbacks from service providers that were awarded multi million-rand tenders by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Nzimande was speaking at a media briefing at the GCIS offices in Pretoria in response to allegations of corruption within NSFAS leveled against him by the civil society organisation.
The tenders were awarded to the companies in order for them to administer direct payments to students.
Nzimande said he has never received money from any of the service providers or any other entities falling under the Department of Higher Education and Training.
“Firstly, I wish to once again assure the South African public that, as minister of higher education, science and innovation I have never used any money from any of my department’s entities for the purpose of funding the SACP, as maliciously suggested in the Outa’s [Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse] report.
“Nor have I received any personal kickbacks from any of the service providers to NSFAS or any of the other entities falling under my departments.
“I therefore wish to dismiss this baseless insinuation by OUTA and some organisations including some sections of the media, that I as minister was involved in some form of corruption at NSFAS.
“These are all lies that emanate from a malicious fightback campaign. My conscience is clear, and I have nothing to hide or fear.”
Nzimande said the allegations against him and Khosa “are part of a fightback campaign that is linked to success and measures I have taken to fight corruption and ensure clean governance at NSFAS.
“This campaign includes threats to the life and person of the NSFAS chairperson.
“It is our view therefore that the leaked recordings are part of a nefarious fightback campaign that is meant to undermine and frustrate the decision of the NSFAS board to start with the legal proceedings to terminate the contracts of these four direct payment solution service providers, as recommended by the Werksmans report.
“And I’ve also voluntarily decided that I am going to subject myself to the relevant legal processes and ethics bodies of the African National Congress, its integrity committee, and the South African Communist Party, its central ethics commission, ” he said.
Outa has alleged that Nzimande, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and NSFAS board chair, Khosa received millions of rands from service providers awarded multi-million rand tenders to administer direct payments to students.
Meanwhile, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party plans to lay criminal charges against Nzimande for the corruption allegations leveled against him.
Steenhuisen said the party also plans to brief its legal team to declare the NSFAS board delinquent.
However, the South African Communist Party (SACP) has supported Nzimande who is the party’s chairperson and has rejected the Outa allegations.
In a statement SACP said it has never approached or delegated any person
“to approach any entity, public or private, to request funds illegitimately. We both reject and denounce the allegation that the NSFAS funded the Party with the contempt it deserves.
“The SACP has never received any funding in return of any favour anywhere,
and any person or entity who will make the attempt to approach the Party with such
funding support will face the full might of the law the SACP will lay a criminal charge against that person or entity”.
The statement added that a legitimate investigation upholds the fundamental principle of justice, “audi alteram partem, meaning listen to the other side, before you can reach conclusions. Any exercise, including by a non-governmental organisation, that violates this fundamental principle is not an investigation but something else.
“The opportunist party of overwhelmingly white leaders in an overwhelmingly black population, the DA, is using the non-governmental organisation OUTA’s utterances and the untested allegation as its electioneering agenda”.
INSIDE EDUCATION
