The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) calls for the resignation of Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, and Ernest Khosa, chairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board. “If they don’t resign, we call on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire them immediately,” says Rudie Heyneke, OUTA’s Investigations Manager.

In support of this call, OUTA releases voice recordings of two meetings between Khosa and a representative of a service provider which reveal how service providers allegedly paid millions of rand in kickbacks to Nzimande and Khosa, as well as at least R1 million to the South African Communist Party (SACP). This was done in return for tenders and protection for service providers.

The recordings and OUTA’s accompanying report are the latest bombshell exposing corruption and mismanagement at NSFAS. The scheme admitted earlier this week that at least 20 000 students countrywide are still waiting for 2023 allowances to be paid. The payment system to students all but collapsed after four new service providers were awarded the tender for facilitating direct payments to students since July 2023. They are: Coinvest Africa (Pty) Ltd, Tenet Technology (Pty) Ltd, Ezaga Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Norraco Corporation (Pty) Ltd.

OUTA had warned as early as October 2022 that awarding the tender to these service providers would lead to problems with student payments while costing taxpayers millions of rand in additional funds. Since then, OUTA has published several more reports detailing mismanagement of funds meant for students, while also exposing the role of NSFAS CEO Andile Nongogo, tracing his nefarious activities back to his tenure as CEO at the Services SETA (SSETA). (See here.)

OUTA’s latest detailed investigative report and the voice recordings will be shared with authorities, including the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Public Protector, SARS and the Auditor-General’s office. According to Heyneke, the voice recordings have already been shared with the SIU, which has been investigating corruption at NSFAS since 2022. “There needs to be a thorough investigation into the vast web of corruption in the higher education sector, which OUTA’s various reports and these recordings reveal,” says Heyneke. 

Report by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse