The Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Dr Mimmy Gondwe has vowed to fix the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and take the institution out of administration, while ensuring that “only deserving students” are provided with the financial support they need.

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) commended the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for taking active steps to claw back irregular payments, which Gondwe said sent a clear message that the abuse of the student funding system would not be tolerated.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago on Thursday highlighted that SIU had signed debt agreements with over 400 students who did not qualify to be funded by NSFAS, but who received funding anyway.

The SIU said that in total it expected to be paid back over R112-million in irregular payments, as part of the agreements.

Gondwe noted that 421 students, from across five universities and four technical vocational education and training colleges, who did not qualify to be funded by NSTAS, had signed acknowledgement of debt agreements to pay back the money that was irregularly paid to them.

She highlighted that the SIU attributed these irregular payments to “weak controls” within NSFAS, which she said resulted in overpayments and underpayments from 2017 to date.

She said the R112-million paid out to undeserving recipients potentially robbed 1 700 deserving students who could have been funded for at least one academic year.

“In a sense, there are many victims who may have dropped out or deferred their studies because they could not afford to pay the requisite academic fees. Every rand that is spent on an undeserving beneficiary robs a deserving one,” she stated.