Question NW31 to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation

Reply:

(a) what actions has he taken in the wake of the allegations,

On 10 January 2024 the NSFAS Board Chairperson, Mr Ernest Khosa informed the Board of his decision to take a leave of absence, and the Board, at the same meeting on 10 January 2024, decided to appoint an independent legal service provider to advise on the appropriate course of action. The firm Tshisevhe Gwina Ratshimbilani Inc. (TGR Attorneys) has been appointed and we now await their report.

(b) what are the precise allegations against the specified person,

The OUTA report contains recordings and transcripts of recordings of two meetings held allegedly between the Chairperson of the NSFAS Board, Mr Ernest Khosa and service providers to NSFAS. The report raised several allegations, including:

• The Chairperson privately met with service providers under investigation by the board for irregular appointments.
• The Chairperson allegedly received monetary benefits from service providers in exchange for facilitating appointments.
• The Chairperson purportedly made decisions with service providers that were contrary to the ongoing board investigation.

(c) how have the allegations affected the daily running of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS),

The leave of absence of the Chairperson has resulted in vacancies within both the Board itself and some of its sub-committees. Nevertheless, the Board has taken proactive measures to address this situation by reallocating existing members to fill these vacancies, thereby ensuring the continuity of leadership and preventing any void in governance.

(d) how does his department plan to solve the operational challenges and

The Department’s role is to exercise oversite. In the process of fulfilling this role it has approved funding for NSFAS’ ICT needs and capacity challenges. Whilst these are being addressed the Board has identified experts who will assist with implementing the turnaround strategy of the entity. Through reports the Department is monitoring the implementation of the audit plan and mitigation strategies it has advised NSFAS to implement. Further it engages with stakeholders, such as TVET Colleges and Universities, on whom NSFAS depends for timeous provision of accurate data to address bottlenecks. In addition, the Department will be instituting a board evaluation programme to assess the board’s performance against key KPI’s including amongst others institutional governance, policies to support critical standard operating procedures and performance management.

(e) who is the current acting chairperson of NSFAS?

The current Acting Chairperson is Prof Lourens van Staden.