Parliament, Tuesday, 19 May 2026 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Mr Tebogo Letsie, regrets that the committee meeting scheduled for today with the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Buti Manamela, has had to be postponed due to the department’s non-submission of its presentation to the committee.
The engagement between the committee and the minister was set up so Mr Manamela could brief the committee on his decision to place the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) under administration.
“We took this decision at 17:00 on Monday. As the day progressed, it was clear that we would not be getting any presentation from the department for our meeting. I then consulted with the Chair of Chairs in the National Assembly, and we agreed that I had to postpone the meeting. This is indeed a worrying trend and its unacceptable,” Mr Letsie said.
Furthermore, the committee had resolved that in its next meeting former NSFAS board members would be invited to attend the meeting to account for what happened while they were at NSFAS. However, NSFAS refused to bring the former members, and the administrator only sent a letter to this effect at 16:38 on Monday. This is despite receiving the committee’s letter on 7 May 2026 requesting their presence.
NSFAS suggested that former board members can only participate in their personal capacity, as they no longer hold office at NSFAS.
Mr Letsie subsequently asked the NSFAS administrator to confirm the reason for the non-attendance in writing on the same day, so that the committee could obtain a legal opinion on the matter. However, this letter was only received on Monday, 18 May, at 16:38.
“We felt that this was a direct sabotage of the meeting,” said Mr Letsie.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING, MR TEBOGO LETSIE.
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