Several Unisa student who spoke to the Truth Panther, say they have been waiting since June for their allowances of R305. According to one of the students, Muzi Khumalo who is a third year law student at Unisa, the problem started when Nsfas stopped the direct payment system which was working pefect according to him. Since they introduced Coinvest system, the student were advised to register on the new system but only few student have received their allowances.
“To honest, I feel like NSFAS is gambling with our future, I really don’t understand why did they have to change the system that was working well. now we have to make alternative plans in order to financially support our studies. I hear now we will be charged up to R25 from the penuts that we were getting by the new system, coinvest. It has been three months now without any allowances.”
said Muzi.
After the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) failed to pay university students their allowances on Thursday, they are furious. Beneficiaries of the NSFAS were anxiously anticipating receiving their R1, 650 living stipend, R305 incidental payment, and R780 travel allowance.
The financial aid programme said in a statement Thursday night that it will pay students’ allowances on Friday via its direct payment mechanism.”The plan had a technical issue, which prevented the payment of allowances today. This issue has been resolved, and NSFAS will make the payment before midnight on August 31 so that the money appears in the recipients’ accounts on September 1.
It apologised “for this unfortunate moment”, saying it completely understood “the inconvenience this delay will cause our beneficiaries”.
“We will always try our best [to] ensure that this never occurs going forward.”
North West University (NWU) spokesman, Louis Jacobs, said it came to their attention that students did not receive their allowances although an NWU task team was assured on Tuesday that payments would be made on time.
“NSFAS did not notify the NWU or the service provider, Norraco, that there could be a delay in payments,” he said.
Since June, fintech companies, eZaga, Coinvest Africa, Norraco Corporation and Tenet Technology, which were contracted by NSFAS, have been paying the allowances on the last day of the month.
The entities were awarded the direct payment system contracts, which has come under fire from students who have complained about the excessive transaction charges that are being levied.
The four entities charge NSFAS beneficiaries a standard monthly fee of R12 for administration costs, which excludes other transaction costs such as ATM withdrawals, card swipes and the fee for replacing lost cards.
An ATM withdrawal costs R10 plus R2.50 for every R100 withdrawn. Meanwhile, William Sezoe, vice-chairman of the student representative council at Stellenbosch University, slammed the financial aid scheme for failing to pay the allowances to students.
“It’s totally unacceptable. There was no transparency or communication from NSFAS on when students will be receiving their allowances.”
He said before the new system was implemented, students started receiving their allowances from universities from the 21st to 25th of the month.
“NSFAS must really account for the fact that their governance structures are not proper and effective.”
Sezoe said students were suffering because they are without food, adding: “There’s no way you can expect these students to go to class on an empty stomach.”
He lodged a complaint with the Public Protector in July against NSFAS’ direct payment system.
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