As nominations for the Nsfas board of directors have been announced, the EFF is demanding that the interview process be conducted publicly to prevent further corruption.
The EFF has demanded that all candidates for the board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) be publicly interviewed and tell South Africans how they will protect the money earmarked for students.
The council was dissolved in April by former Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande, months after council chairman Ernest Khosa took leave pending an investigation into a multi-million dollar fraud. bribery chargesThe circuit was placed under external control.
It comes in the midst of an Nsfas roadshow and days after Administrator Freeman Nomvalo promised changes that would payment delays and placement problemsamong other questions.
Nominations for the board of directors will be accepted until September 3.
ANC-appointed council 'behind the shadows'
In a statement on Tuesday, the EFF student leadership said it had noted the opening of the nomination process for the new council but had in the past observed a “questionable and unethical culture of appointing individuals to the Nsfas council in a confidential and non-transparent manner”.
“For many years, the higher education community has allowed dishonest African National Congress (ANC) ministers to appoint Board members secretly and behind closed doors, without any public oversight or transparency.
“It is this culture of political secrecy and duplicity that has led to rampant corruption in the NSFAS and the institutionalization of patronage in government institutions.
By Nzimande's own admission, the EFF said the scheme had failed to fulfil and implement “the most basic duties imposed on it by the NSFAS Act”.
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The forensic reports found that the Board not only failed to fulfil a significant and important oversight duty in relation to Nsfas, but also engaged in fraudulent and corrupt activity in connection with the funding scheme.
The EFF pointed to 2018, when the council was also dissolved by then minister Dr Naledi Pandor due to “failures and delays in approving and distributing funding.”
Ethical Leadership and Transparency Are the Solution
The EFF said ethical and transparent leadership would reverse years of mismanagement of public funds, maladministration, corruption and fraud.
The party pointed out that the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) runs a transparent parliamentary process open to public participation and scrutiny.
“Potential Nsfas board members must also be interviewed in a public forum and their qualifications, experience and credentials must be demonstrated to the people of South Africa.”
The programme's annual budget is approximately R50 billion.
“The people of South Africa, along with the higher education community, deserve to know what kind of people will be managing this money.”