The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has revealed that more than 40 000 unqualifying students received funding of more than R5b from the National Financial Aid Service (NSFAS). This is after SIU launched the investigation into corruption and maladministration at NSFAS last year after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the anti-corruption agency a go ahead to probe the matter. Students whose household income is above R350 000, don't qualify for NSFAS bursaries based on funding rules. According to SIU, students did not submit their parent's details when they applied with some using their grandparent's to apply. 

SENIOR OFFICIALS FAILED DESERVING STUDENTS 

Chief Investigations Officer at SIU, Leonard Lekgoethe said there were loopholes in the system and their investigations will reveal those responsible. The SIU said there were students who dropped out of tertiary and were beneficiaries of NSFAS yet there is still money allocated to their accounts. "Senior officials at the financial aid scheme had a duty to ensure they protected the funds and that no money had been siphoned illegally. All these irregularities are because of senior staff members who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. Institutions are still getting money for students that are no longer there," Lekgoethe said. He said some students were getting funding from more than one institution meaning they registered in various institutions and are getting money from all of them. He also said some students got way less than what they qualified for which affects the quality of their studies.  

RECOVERING THE MONEY BACK 

 Last year, SIU recovered R33m from Northlink TVET College in Cape Town. The college informed SIU that it received the money from NSFAS to fund students who needed financial aid to further their studies, but it was never allocated to students between 2017 and 2021. The college only reported the funds after Ramaphosa authorised the investigation into the corruption. "The TVET college told the SIU it is fully aware the funds should have been returned to the NSFAS, but Northlink College failed to do so and instead decided to invest the funds without authorisation," SIU said in a statement. Briefing Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) about its investigations SIU and NSFAS said they only managed to recover R38 million from different institutions. "We are looking at 76 institutions and the number of students who received the money they did not qualify for is 40,044. When you look at the amount involved it's R5.1 billion of the amount that has been paid to unqualified students," said Lekgetho. 

GHOST STUDENTS 

"There is the issue of ghost students, where students do not exist, but there is funding done by NSFAS to those students, and there is double-dipping. Double-dipping relates to students who go to different institutions. They get funded in different institutions at the same time. There is the issue of drop-outs where students apply, they drop out, but the money is still paid to the institution," said Lekgoethe.