Tens of thousands of middle- and upper-class families are fraudulently claiming financial support from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas), depriving desperate and needy poor students from getting the university degrees which could pull them out of poverty. Well-off families benefiting from Nsfas by taking from deserving students is a situation described by University of Limpopo criminology and criminal justice head of department Witness Maluleka as “black-on-black” criminality, which is largely ignored by society. Middle and upper-class families taking Nsfas support “Some people are corrupt to the core, leading to stealing from the poor.
We are under siege as a country; the poor remain poor, and the elite and middle-class individuals continue stealing from them. This should be immediately stopped. Political lecturer at North-West University Benjamin Rapanyane said this problem was a serious financial obstacle for Nsfas in realising its primary objective of financing the studies of deserving students.
“If left unattended, it might give rise to student protests nationwide in cases where students are told that there is no funding available,” he said. “A lot of students have already been impacted, especially those students who are told that they do not qualify, whereas they do qualify.” A final-year public management student at the Mthashana TVET college said her application was rejected within hours of applying. The student, who requested anonymity, said she wasn’t funded by Nsfas in the last semester, which is why she worked hard to pass her exams so she could be funded this semester.
Student says hope ignited then lost after rejection within hours “I’ve tried contacting them but didn’t get any help. I’ve also tried going to the bursary office, but all they did was take our details. “Initially, my hope was ignited, but a week passed without any changes to our status.
“I’ve sent two e-mails so far but didn’t get any response from them. It’s so frustrating as I’ve already registered but can’t get funding,” she said. The student said she was only funded twice by Nsfas but has since been rejected.
I’ve lost hope in anything that has to do with Nsfas. I’m living with a single mother who’s trying by all means to pay for my rent and buy groceries for me. In 2023, more than R5 billion in National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) money was possibly allocated to students who did not qualify for funding, says the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
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