NSFAS Aims to Restore Public Trust Amidst Corruption Allegations

The NSFAS is hoping to clean up its image. The scheme faces corruption allegations that have plagued it since 2023. Per EWN, new corruption claims have implicated the Minister of Higher Education, NSFAS’s board chair, and the SACP in kickbacks from the scheme’s service providers.

The NSFAS aims to turn things around in 2024 as the higher education sector prepares for the new academic period. The organisation faced scrutiny for issues such as failing to distribute funds, removing CEO Andile Nongongo, and a corruption scandal involving board chair Ernest Khosa.

Allegations of corruption intensified when OUTA accused Minister Blade Nzimande and the South African Communist Party (SACP) of receiving kickbacks from NSFAS service providers. In response to these allegations, Nzimande announced Professor Lourens van Staden as the acting NSFAS chair.

Also read: Allegations of NSFAS Corruption: OUTA Plans to Escalate to Ramaphosa, SARS, SIU, and PP

Amidst the controversy, ActionSA’s youth wing called for Nzimande’s resignation, staging a demonstration outside the Government Communication and Information System offices. The youth forum has opened criminal charges against Nzimande and Khosa for alleged contraventions of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, currently at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland with Nzimande, expressed scepticism about the impact of individual leaders’ images on investor confidence. He emphasised the need for substantive proof and stated that investors are more concerned about the broader corruption picture in South Africa.

Also read:

OUTA Applauds Khosa’s Leave of Absence as a Positive Move for NSFAS

Picture: X / SithaleKgaogelo

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