Parliament, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 – The Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports and Arts and Culture resolved to postpone its meeting with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) on grounds of the late submission of the required documents to the meeting that was planned to take place today in Parliament.
The documents that were submitted a few hours before the meeting today, were supposed to be sent to the members of the committee in good time to afford members enough time to read the documents before the meeting.
The committee expressed its extreme disappointment with the Management of NSFAS and said that its failure to submit the documents on time deprives members of the the committee an opportunity to fully scrutinise the documents and prepare for the engagement with NSFAS, and that according to them, is a blatant disregard of accountability.
The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Elleck Nchabeleng said: “You expect us to scrutinise the documents within minutes, yet you took days to compile the presentations. NSFAS officials are not serious about addressing the many challenges faced in the education sector.”
The committee is of the view that the pertinent challenges relating to maladministration, reports on irregular expenditure amounting to billions, erroneous pay-outs to students and the subsequent effect on thousands of students who are beneficiaries of the NSFAS funding deserve a thorough engagement with officials who should address these challenges as a matter of urgency.
Mr Nchabeleng said: “NSFAS officials should be held liable for the funds wasted for their travelling to Parliament, they came here knowing that the committee was not given ample time to engage with their presentations.” The meeting will be scheduled for a later date.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS AND ARTS AND CULTURE, MR MAMAGASE ELLECK NCHABELENG
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the Committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Felicia Lombard (Ms)
Tel: 021 403 8285
Cell: 063 503 2364
E-mail: flombard@parliament.gov.za
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