Calling for NSFAS to be scrapped is anti-intellectual - Letsie

Añadido: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]This higher education and training minister Bhutim Manamela appeared before the portfolio committee this week to answer tough questions on the Nasfus and Sitta boards. The meeting was called after some of the members from previous student funds board took the minister to court for placing the scheme under administration. The minister has also been accused of convening a meeting with board members without a formal agenda or secretary at present and allegedly confiscated members phones in the meeting. The minister was also questioned about his choice of administrators on some boards with allegations of financial misconduct and unauthorized salary hikes among other things. Let's get an update on how that meeting went with the committee chairperson deia. Very good morning to you and thank you so much for your time and for joining us. So you sat through a full day of testimony from Minister Manamel on Friday. Just give us a sense of the mood in that room. I mean that meeting was a postponement from what was supposed to have happened on the 19th of May and the minister had requested for for the meeting to then be moved. Was the committee satisfied with what they heard?

[00:01:11]>> No. Good morning um Kad yourself. Good morning to the viewers of Newsroom Africa and um it's an absolute pleasure for us to be here. Um yes, we did have a meeting on Friday. Uh you'll remember this was after the meeting was postponed from the 19th because we had not received a a presentation from the ministry. Uh the meeting did happen on Friday the 29th of of May. And [clears throat] then the center of uh what happened was um the reasons uh the minister relied on in putting the sitan administration and the process that he followed in appointing the the administrator at NES first. Um there was um a lot of [clears throat] um questions that members asked and that they felt that uh the answers are not being adequately been responded to by the minister and uh that is why at the end when we close the meeting we said we will have an in committee just us as members on Wednesday uh to decide what uh becomes the way forward in a matter of in a matter like this one. M so the minister described placing NASA under administration as a legal governance and student protection response. Based on what you heard, did this uh hold water to this justification for placing the the entity and administration?

[00:02:43]Well, the minister indicated that um he relied on the auditor general's report uh which indicated that uh there were about 822 deceased students who were getting um funding from NESF >> and there were almost 15,000 young students who uh received funding and did not qualify. Um uh the NESA board uh that was dissolved dissolved indicated that that report uh is not a report that um um was done under them. It was a a financial year when they were not board members of NESFAS. they indicated that their report uh came out or the other reason is that the minister indicated that uh they had not implemented uh uh you know what that what that um report required of them to do. They indicated that they received um that audit report from the AG on the 26th of May and uh within a month the minister already asked them why they should not be dissolved. So they indicated that they did not get enough time to respond to the matters that were raised in that report that uh preceded their appointment to to the board. The second issue was the issue of a quorum which the the minister indicated that he believed that um the board could not legally exist because of the issue of a quorum. They came to the meeting indicated that they met corum. We put the questions to uh the legal team of the department to understand what is the understanding of a cororum and uh you you could tell in the meeting that the answers that the legal team was bringing they were not sufficient. we referred them to the act uh which prescribes what is a quorum and uh you know the department could not respond adequately there. So the the matter is supposed to go to court and I saw that there's been the the board members has withdrawn the the matter that was supposed to sit this Tuesday on the 2nd. H we don't understand uh why they've withdrawn but they have withdrawn. I've seen the the withdrawing of the papers they probably filed again. I don't know but they have withdrawn as we speak.

[00:05:31]um the matters that uh the minister relied on in putting the the the city under the the NESAS under administration um was questioned and at the center of it was that meeting how the meeting was convened and how you know it was convened with a with a call to board members some or at least one board member was not called uh and then uh in the meeting there was no formal agenda And there was an issue from you know the minister said the meeting went this way.

[00:06:08]The board members came and said no that's not how the meeting went. Uh we were instructed to do x y and zed. We're not allowed to um to to you know participate in the meeting and all of that. So [clears throat] we had we have advised the minister that moving forward let's make sure that we are able to produce evidence of uh the meetings that we call with any entity be it the university at TV college a meeting in the department because uh this will be uh those people by the way the board members were paid for by the nfas using public funds and therefore when uh the public wants to know what would have happened in the meeting. We should be able to produce evidence that these are the minutes of the particular meeting. So we have advised the minister that moving forward uh we want a meetings we should be able to account for our meetings.

[00:07:06]>> From your assessment chair, do you feel as though there is a disconnect between the board and the minister? Is this teething problems because this is still at the very beginning of a relationship?

[00:07:18]And how much of an impact would this have then on the administration of Anisfus if at that level there seems to be a disconnect?

[00:07:28][clears throat] It was very clear from the beginning that there's a serious animosity between the minister and and the board and our assessment actually we put it to them in the meeting that they must work on their relationship uh moving forward because uh they are all professionals very serious people they should be able to find each other moving forward um we we did indicate that um we don't want uh stories where tomorrow allowances are not being paid to students, accommodation providers has they've not been paid. You know, the tuition has not been paid because at the core of what NESFAS is about is about servicing those people and we want uh the core business of NESFAS to continue. Um so if whatever happens in the a governance arrangement between uh the board and the minister and the administrator that must not affect the intended uh uh beneficiaries which are poor people who expect Nesfas to take care of them. We did get an assurance from the minister that that will um you know will happen will continue to happen. the allowances will continue to be paid and we are hoping that uh tomorrow we'll not get a an a call from distress students telling us on a Saturday night that they being evicted from rest because NESF is not paid. Uh that really will be um a big problem for us. So but we did get an assurance from the minister that uh that will not happen and we're hoping that uh when all is said and done uh the core business of the institution which is servicing uh the students will continue to happen without any hindrance.

[00:09:25]>> And speaking of that core business of the institution chair I mean Nasphus has been placed under administration three times in just 5 years. At what point does the committee say that administration is no longer solution but it's just a symptom of of deeper structural failure and is the committee even considering possibilities of an overhaul of NSF as an institution and finding alternative ways in which what the core business needs to be be administered in different ways. I know the DA has called for the scrapping of NSF. You yourself are are are personally against that but are you looking and considering any other alternative given the issues that Nasfus has been facing for so many years?

[00:10:10]>> We've made a point that uh anyone anyone calling for the scrapping of NSF is bringing is bringing anti-intellectual uh view that is not supported by science. Um we are we are we worried about uh NESFAS being put under administration? We are we are extremely worried. Uh you know the the problem with what how this thing is happening.

[00:10:36]The three administrations um or the two the previous two administrations were dealing with different uh problem. It was they were not there to fix governance issues and all of that. uh profles was there to um you know create an as to be a student centric model and that is why the scheme was put under administration at that time. Um the previous one after the board members had uh resigned uh at NESF the uh Prof Blen Zande then decided to put the scheme under administration over a period of two years h putting in um the Freeman Lombardo who uh did not finish one year and uh the the minister appointed a B Um so so the the first one was for for something different. The second one the administration uh could not finish the task uh because we put in a board there and now we are here. [clears throat] We don't we don't think um uh uh there's there's a crisis as far as the core business is concerned on NES. There are allegations there of uh very organized criminals uh running the scheme there behind closed doors and we are watching very closely closely how the administrator is going to respond to those things. Uh because um um those those people who are if it's true the alleged people they were stealing money from that entity are the ones who are creating problems for people to come with you know very pedestrian views that Nesfas must be closed. NESFAS has produced with its problems almost 6 million graduates who ordinar ordinarily will not have seen the dose of learning and culture let alone graduate h from uh the universities in this country. Uh we we believe that NEFAS is very important.

[00:12:51]H we just need to fix the governance part of it. make sure that we don't have some organized criminals stealing money of that is meant for students. We believe that uh this criminal networks uh will not um succeed if they don't work with some people in the banks. We don't work good with people probably at home affairs because how a bank knows when a person dies that why why is money continue for a year to get into this person's account when a person is incarcerated. So there's a we believe that there's criminal networks here working there but we don't think we've reached a crisis mode. The president has indicated that uh NESFAS must bring a comprehensive student funding model which is the department which is what the department is assisted with currently. So that comprehensive student model will uh um close all of these uh wrong things out but make sure that the core business of NESF which is funding student and funding them on time becomes the center of what is what what NESFAS is about. I don't think it should close.

[00:14:09]we should we should just expedite the process of a a comprehensive student funding model as the president had indicated and then uh everything um will be will be back to normal.

[00:14:22]>> Certainly. Lastly and very quickly chairman you're saying we are not in crisis mode. You told parliament that no university would survive 5 years if NASA collapses. How close to that edge cliff are we actually sitting right now?

[00:14:38]We we stand by our words that uh actually at the end of five years all of them would have collapsed. Some of them will not collapse will not survive one year if NESA collapses. So we're making a point that it is in our best interest and the best interest of uh our academics who are running this universities to make sure that uh they work together in fixing NESFAS. They don't create uh they don't look at at NESFAS as a as a problem. They look at it as one of the key thing in the in the system. So we're making that point that we ought to work together. I don't think um we we are near the the cliff for us to fall. NF um I don't think it's at a point of the brink of collapse. I don't think so. I believe that there are challenges that must be attended and if some of those challenges have got criminal networks let people be arrested but I don't think we're at a point where we are collapsing currently the students the parents at home must know that uh uh there's no crisis their children will continue to get their allowances will continue to get their accommodation paid and they must not worry h they should they should they should not press any panic button I will come back and tell them if there's a problem currently there's no problem there >> all right portfolio committee chair on higher education and training dhia thank you so much for your