ActionSA is taking NSFAS to court – Here’s why
ActionSA has decided to take the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to court over the awarding of direct payments contract to the four selected service providers to disburse monthly allowances to beneficiaries on behalf of the scheme. The party believes that the decision to outsource the job to service providers was irrational and seeks […]
ActionSA has decided to take the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to court over the awarding of direct payments contract to the four selected service providers to disburse monthly allowances to beneficiaries on behalf of the scheme.
The party believes that the decision to outsource the job to service providers was irrational and seeks the courts assistance to set aside the contract as they allege that the ‘service providers are I’ll equipped’ to do the job.
STUDENTS FIND THE NEW SYSTEM TROUBLESOME
NSFAS has appointed eZaga, Coinvest, Tenetech and Norraco to disperse funds to beneficiaries in Universities and TVET colleges.
ActionSA's Legal Director, Alistair Shaw, explains the legal steps we intend to take to challenge the awarding of the NSFAS Direct Payment of Allowances contract. pic.twitter.com/VWiE84K3yq
— ActionSA (@Action4SA) July 19, 2023
The new NSFAS bank accounts have been accused of charging much more than regular student account fees offered by the big four banks.
“We have received multiple submissions through our NSFAS Complaints Database indicating that the transaction fees charged exceed what can be considered reasonable, in addition to the account fee already debited, adding to the financial strain on students”, says Matthew George, ActionSA Western Cape Students Chairperson.
“Our main focus is to prevent NSFAS from becoming a feeding trough for unscrupulous tenderpreneurs whose greed undermines the well-being of students.”
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ACTIONSA SAYS IT HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY A FEW FACTORS
- We aim to address the immediate burden placed on students, who bear the cost of this fraud through excessive fee structures. The ‘NSFAS Bank Accounts’ provided by four inexperienced service providers offer significantly more expensive solutions than those offered by four of the largest commercial banks in the country, all of whom were unsuccessful bidders.
- NSFAS neglected to conduct thorough consultations. This deprived key stakeholders of the opportunity to provide valuable inputs that could have aided in creating a clear migration plan.
- The functionality of the onboarding/registration portals has been disorganised and problematic. Students face difficulties in updating contact details and often do not receive the required One-Time Password (OTP) for account registration. Site crashes and rejections of Identity Documentation have also been reported, with one service provider acknowledging that this issue arose from NSFAS not providing correct student details.