The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has broken its silence on the meal and private accommodation allowances saga at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) — admitting that there were financial aid delays, while putting the blame squarely on universities.
Department of Higher education and training (DEHT) spokespersons Ishmael Mnisi on Saturday said higher education minister Blade Nzimande was concerned about reports that NSFAS funded students had been left without accommodation.
NSFAS chief corporate services officer Sibongile Mncwabe told DispatchLIVE this week that payment of allowances was based on valid claims being submitted by institutions in line with the funding policy, “where institutions have not complied with the policy prescripts — delays do occur”.
“However, in the case of UFH, NSFAS is assisting to put processes in place to assist the institution to comply,” she said.
Mncwabe said NSFAS issued the 2021 funding report to the public on July 20.
“The issue of Fort Hare accommodation has been discussed between DHET, UFH management and the DHET,” she said.
Asked whether the situation at UFH should have been handled differently, Mncwabe said : “This question should be addressed to the UFH given that the DHET bursary rules and guidelines were published and clarified to all universities.”
DispatchLIVE reported at the weekend that a student leader said students had been kicked out by their landlords as they could not afford to pay rent after authorities had failed to pay private accommodation allowances.
DispatchLIVE has seen videos of students who are being evicted by their landlords for failure to pay rent.
People living in private accommodation are being evicted because the school hasn't processed payments.
“We are having a huge problem with our financial aid office,” she said.
“They take forever to send our registration templates through to NSFAS. There are students who haven't received their allowances even today.
“People living in private accommodation are being evicted because the school hasn't processed payments.”
University spokesperson JP Roodt said the UFH had applied to NSFAS on April 26.
Roodt said that NSFAS had, in turn, advised the UFH that ministerial approval was pending.
DispatchLIVE
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