Parliament, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Mr Tebogo Letsie, has said the Minister of Higher Education and Training’s placement of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) through another administrative cycle is deeply troubling and points to gross breakdown in governance systems.
“The repeated placement of NSFAS under administration is deeply concerning. It means that, since 2018, the entity has had three administrators appointed to address persistent governance failures, non‑compliance with legal recommendations, poor management of student allowances and now we have Professor Hlengani Mathebula appointed as the third administrator,” said Portfolio Committee Chairperson Mr Tebogo Letsie.
Mr Letsie said something needs to be done to save the entity, following a series of resignations from the board of NSFAS in recent weeks, including that of the interim Chairperson, Dr Mugwena Maluleka. The instabilities at senior management and a board level often means the students who are the main clients are led a by rudderless entity with no sense of direction, added Mr Letsie.
“Last year, during the term of Dr Stander, we had thought we were on the right path in turning NSFAS around, and then we were surprised by her sudden departure. We ought to understand and get to the root causes as to why good leaders do not last at NSFAS,” Mr Letsie noted.
“All we seek is a student‑centred entity that is able to fund deserving students and disburse allowances timeously. However, persistent challenges with data verification continue to undermine this objective. Unless NSFAS decisively resolves its governance shortcomings, we risk grappling with these problems for many years to come, with students enduring the worst of the repeated administrative failures,” said Mr Letsie.
Mr Letsie added that the committee will engage with the Minister of Higher Education and Training and ask him to brief the committee on his decision.
Furthermore, we are hopeful that in the incoming administrator’s terms of reference, the Department of Higher Education and Training makes it clear that an administration close-out report must be submitted and that we, as the committee, are also privileged with it, said Mr Letsie.
Mr Letsie concluded: “We are pleading the minister and the department to identify, find and uproot the causes of instability at NSFAS. I have said on several occasions that if NSFAS fails to get its house in order, in effect, we force many of our children to commit unthinkable and immoral acts to survive.”
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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