Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education conducted a formal oversight visit to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) headquarters in June 2026 to address critical failures in funding disbursements. The visit follows a surge in reports from tertiary institutions nationwide regarding late or non-payment of essential student living allowances.
Addressing Systemic Administrative Failures
The committee’s intervention comes as students continue to face significant financial hurdles due to technical glitches and administrative backlogs within the current disbursement system. During the oversight visit, committee representatives highlighted that these ongoing inefficiencies are jeopardising the academic progress of thousands of students from poor and working-class backgrounds.
The committee is deeply concerned that despite interventions, students continue to languish without the necessary financial support required to sustain their studies.
Lawmakers emphasised that the reliance on the direct payment system, which has struggled with implementation since its introduction, remains a primary point of friction. A member of the committee stated during the session that the state cannot permit administrative and IT failures to serve as a barrier to higher education access.
Context Of Financial Hardship
NSFAS has been under increased scrutiny for several years following a shift to a centralised payment model intended to streamline operations but which has instead triggered frequent, and sometimes violent, student protests. These disruptions often stem from the failure of service providers to process payments, leaving students without funds for accommodation, food, and transport.
While discussions within parliamentary corridors have included allegations of corruption regarding the IT service providers contracted by the scheme, these claims remain under investigation and have not been proven in a court of law. The committee is expected to release a detailed report on its findings, which will likely inform future policy directives and potential contract reviews regarding third-party payment stakeholders.
The committee is currently reviewing evidence presented during the visit to determine the next steps for institutional accountability.