PRETORIA, Gauteng — In a sharp escalation of demands for institutional accountability, SASCO President Alungile Kamtshe is calling for an immediate forensic investigation into NSFAS financial misconduct. The student organization insists that the focus of any criminal proceedings must shift away from vulnerable learners and squarely onto the executives and chief financial officers who authorize irregular payments within the embattled student aid scheme.
Addressing the governance crisis, Kamtshe emphasized that it is fundamentally unjust to hold approximately 40,000 students criminally liable for funds erroneously deposited into their accounts. He highlighted a past precedent where a student faced jail time for spending millions that were mistakenly allocated to her, arguing that the true culpability rests with the leadership and boards who approve these transactions.
According to the SASCO president, the financial mismanagement extends far beyond administrative errors. He pointed to deeply concerning allegations, previously raised under oath in parliament, that public officials—including members of parliament and potentially deputy ministers—benefited from luxury hotel accommodations booked and paid for by the scheme. Kamtshe characterized these actions as deliberate attempts to siphon resources meant for the country’s poorest students, necessitating swift executive accountability.
Governance Collapse and Illegal Appointments
The student leader expressed a profound lack of confidence in the current NSFAS leadership structure. Kamtshe noted that the board, which was appointed in early 2024 and dissolved earlier this year, was illegally constituted in direct violation of Section 5 of the NSFAS Act regarding its composition. He questioned what the board achieved during its brief tenure to resolve the scheme’s pervasive issues, pointing to internal factions, chronic indecisiveness, and a complete loss of credibility.
Furthermore, Kamtshe cited severe internal scandals to underscore the board’s illegitimacy. He noted that the board currently operates with only seven of its 13 members, lacks a minister-appointed chairperson, and has been marred by allegations of members stealing laptops. He also referenced the “Ramia” court judgment, which resulted in a board member’s removal, as well as a Pretoria High Court judgment that raised serious questions about the current administrator’s credibility and tenure.
The Statutory Solution for Ministerial Intervention
With the relationship between the higher education minister and the NSFAS board described as “totally broken down,” Kamtshe urged the minister to utilize Section 17 of the NSFAS Act. This statutory provision explicitly empowers the minister to intervene directly by placing the scheme under administration. He dismissed any political reluctance to enact this intervention as “plain politics” that actively hinders problem-solving and allows corruption and incompetence to persist.
When questioned about SASCO’s political alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and whether it created bias toward the minister, Kamtshe clarified the organization’s “compliment and criticize” approach. He stressed that SASCO prioritizes educational access over political loyalty, noting that their ideological underpinnings and shared strategies differ vastly from opposition parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Campus Unrest and the Future of Student Funding
This commitment to student welfare is currently being tested at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), where campuses have shut down due to ongoing unrest. Kamtshe called on the minister to leave their office and actively engage with CPUT to resolve the disturbances. He pushed back against the narrative that students protest out of laziness, emphasizing that demonstrations are a demand for a conducive learning environment and a recognition of the immense value of education in South Africa.
Looking toward systemic solutions, Kamtshe addressed ongoing debates over whether NSFAS should pay institutions directly rather than acting as a middleman. While acknowledging that direct tuition fee payments to higher learning institutions are currently working, he warned against entirely decentralizing the financial aid scheme. He argued that the current Higher Education Act limits government oversight due to institutional autonomy, making blind financial injections across 26 universities and over 50 TVET colleges highly problematic.
Instead, SASCO advocates for the decentralization of operational queries to the ground level to better serve students on campus. Kamtshe concluded by highlighting the necessity of amending the Higher Education Act and factoring in the massive Special Investigating Unit (SIU) recoveries, noting that institutions like UP are sitting on over 417 billion in recovered funds. This, he argued, proves that simply shifting money to autonomous institutions without strict, centralized oversight will not solve the underlying crisis.
