• Freeman Nomvalo, the NSFAS administrator says that the scheme has managed to pay all its students on time in the last few months, as long as they were successfully verified.
• Around six percent of students have not yet been verified, translating to several thousand learners.
• Incorrect information, missing banking details and delays due to the current ICT system are a few of the issues NSFAS is currently dealing with.

The administrator of NSFAS, Freeman Nomvalo, says that only around six percent of its million-plus beneficiaries have not received their August allowances on time, simply because they were unable to complete the verification process.

Nomvalo was addressing the media on Tuesday, and enthused about the quick change to have beneficiaries at technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges receive their monthly stipends directly to their personal bank accounts instead of through their institutions.

When this change was introduced in May, NSFAS was still struggling to verify TVET beneficiaries and was still awaiting the details of around 7 000 students.

Despite these setbacks, Nomvalo told the media that the scheme has managed to consistently process student payments at TVET colleges and universities in the last few months, noting that this can be done as long as students verify their details.

NSFAS is still struggling with failed verification processes from students, either due to incorrect information supplied or missing information, like banking details. The scheme is actively trying to reach these beneficiaries, he said.

“There are possible two scenarios; one that, these students have no means to reach us, possibly the messages did not reach them or regrettably, some of these could be non-existent students. What is more worrying is that to date we have not received complaints from students who may have not received their allowances.”

Meanwhile, NSFAS says it will continue paying university students through their universities directly until the end of the 2024 academic year. Previously, NSFAS was using the controversial direct payment method, facilitated by a group of fintech companies it later sought to fire.

“The planning for the migration of universities was halted by the interdict awarded in favour of Ezaga and others by the Western Cape High Court on 12 July 2024, which NSFAS is appealing,” Nomvalo explained.

Nomvalo also revealed that NSFAS’ ICT systems was the cause of further delays in signing up students to the scheme, as well as finalising loans and appeals which arrive in their hundreds or thousands from millions of applicants.

He said the system’s issues have forced staff to manually conduct verification processes which is not a sustainable process.

“It is almost impossible to expect NSFAS staff to manually conduct verification of these applications at some point in the value chain [and] such a work environment is undoubtedly prone to errors,” Nomvalo said.

“On behalf of NSFAS we wish to express our sincere apologies to the affected students and our colleagues in the PSET system. We are working hard to ensure the 2025 academic year is less burdened with the same issues.”

Nomvalo is set to work as the administrator for NSFAS until the new Minister for Higher Education is able to appoint a new board of directors and chief executive, which is expected before the end of the year.

[Source – SA News]
[Image – @myNSFAS on X]