NSFAS has been urged to recover money owed to it from colleges and students.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) urged NSFAS leadership to act swiftly on audit concerns regarding possible fraud.
Allegations of financial irregularities and lack of internal IT controls and sound policies continue to beset the entity, tasked with disbursing millions of rands to students who qualify for free education.
Auditor-General Tsakane Maluleke’s recent report on the audit outcomes of state departments and entities found that NSFAS made payments that were not in line with students’ contracts.
Despite recommendations by the Maluleke’s team, NSFAS had yet to act on the recommendations and recover the money, reports the Weekend Argus.
“The NSFAS must do what it is mandated to do and address the serious issues raised by the AG.
“We will also co-operate with the probe by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and hand over all relevant evidence we have as we have been calling on NSFAS to get its house in order,” said Nehawu spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi.
The payments were related to tuition fees and allowances from 2017 to 2018, which were found to be more than the maximum amounts stipulated in the written agreements with the students due to ineffective controls.
“In some cases, the amounts in the agreements were incorrect, while in other cases, the disbursed amounts were more than the total cost of study for the students.
“The non-compliance is likely to result in a material financial loss if the overpayments are not recovered from the students and tertiary institutions,” the report said.
NSFAS was made aware of the alleged irregularity in 2020 but had yet to take action, nor has it quantified the losses.
On November 4, Maluleke gave NSFAS nine months to implement the recommendations.
She also flagged monies not recovered from technical and vocational education and training colleges (TVET) which were not returned to NSFAS after students deregistered.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za