JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — The NSFAS accommodation cap crisis has pushed South African tertiary institutions to the brink, sparking severe fears of student homelessness as the second semester begins. With the R52,000 annual funding limit under intense scrutiny, student leaders and private housing executives are demanding immediate regulatory intervention to avert a nationwide housing and academic disaster.
Private Landlords Face Collapse and Mass Evictions
The private student accommodation sector is sounding the alarm, warning that unresolved funding disputes are forcing property owners out of business. Kagisho Mamabolo, CEO of the Private Student Housing Association, revealed that the body is urgently demanding an immediate 6% increase in the annual NSFAS rental rate to sustain operations.
The financial strain has already translated into real-world consequences for learners. “Evictions are already happening,” Mamabolo confirmed, noting that students who traveled home for the first-semester break are being locked out of their residences. “Those students won’t be allowed in if they are still owing and have no confirmation of NSFAS.”
The crisis is also decimating the supply of student housing. Mamabolo disclosed that NSFAS owes private landlords approximately R200 million, a debt backdated to 2024 resulting from a 0% rate increase last year and an unconfirmed rate for the current year. The fallout is visible on the ground, with multiple student accommodation properties around the University of Johannesburg currently being auctioned. Mamabolo confirmed that more than four association members have already been forced to shut their doors entirely due to these outstanding NSFAS debts.
The Human Cost: Silent Investigations and Academic Jeopardy
For students, the funding shortfall translates into severe personal and academic hardship. One second-year student, residing in private accommodation because on-campus options are unaffordable, shared her ordeal. Her NSFAS account has been under investigation since April without any formal communication, leaving her stranded.
Paying over R6,000 per month, she faces strict penalties and the threat of eviction if she misses the first-of-the-month deadline. The situation has forced her parents to dip into their salaries and take out loans just to keep her housed. The ripple effects extend beyond housing; she warned that exceeding her financial limits could prevent her from registering for her third year. “The accommodation issue is not really sticking and remaining at accommodation. It also expands to my academics as well,” she explained, adding that she may ultimately be forced to return home and abandon her studies.
SRCs Demand Scrapping of the R52,000 Cap
In a unified front, student leadership bodies representing up to 16 tertiary institutions, including SRCs from 10 specific universities, have united to demand structural changes. They are calling for the current R52,000 per annum NSFAS accommodation cap to be scrapped entirely. Furthermore, they insist that university-owned accommodation must be heavily subsidized, while private student housing requires strict regulation to prevent the extortion of vulnerable learners.
Gilbert Nchabeleng, WITS University SRC President, argued that the Department of Higher Education and Training, through NSFAS, must eliminate the accommodation cap. He urged the Competition Commission and the Department of Education to intervene and regulate pricing in alignment with regional rental realities.
Nchabeleng highlighted the glaring flaws in a one-size-fits-all national cap, pointing out the vast cost disparities between institutions. He contrasted the University of Venda, which is not in a metro, with Stellenbosch University, where rental prices are exorbitant despite also being outside a metro, and metro-based universities like the University of Pretoria, which face identical pricing crises.
Parliamentary Friction and Broken Promises
The standoff has spilled over into the political arena. Tebogo Letsie, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, recently criticized student leaders, suggesting they appear more focused on defending high accommodation costs than questioning how universities justify such prices in the first place.
Nchabeleng sharply rejected this narrative, expressing deep disappointment in the committee chair’s remarks. He reminded the public that in 2023, NSFAS announced it would report student accommodation providers to the Competition Commission to properly regulate pricing and introduce the national cap. However, the agency has yet to revert with a solution.
Nchabeleng also pointed to a history of unfulfilled parliamentary engagements. He noted that the University of Cape Town’s SRC previously outlined this exact crisis before the committee, prompting the chair to promise an oversight visit to UCT—a visit that has yet to materialize. Meanwhile, students at the University of Pretoria and the University of Johannesburg have already resorted to protests over the imposed national cap.
Systemic Rot and the Mid-August Ultimatum
Adding to the frustration, a parliamentary oversight visit conducted just two weeks ago revealed that intermediary middlemen companies continue to operate within the accommodation mediation space, further inflating costs. Nchabeleng referenced a comprehensive 2022 report submitted to the parliamentary committee, which explicitly linked the student debt crisis to NSFAS financial shortfalls driven by the national cap.
Student leadership has given Higher Education authorities until mid-August 2026 to table concrete solutions. Their proposed funding model requires the official appointment of the Competition Commission to regulate all student housing. This would ensure university residences are subsidized rather than used as profit-generation mechanisms, while private facilities are strictly regulated.
While the private accommodation sector remains open to exploring a collaborative solution strategy, student leaders are taking a harder line. Asserting that NSFAS has repeatedly failed in its mandate, factions within the student movement are now adamant that the organization must be dissolved immediately if the R52,000 cap and the R200 million debt are not comprehensively resolved.
