ActionSA welcomes dissolution of NSAFS Board and resignation of Board Chairperson, now Blade Nzimande must follow suit

12 April 2024

ActionSA welcomes the dissolution of the NSFAS Board along with the resignation of NSFAS Board Chairperson, Ernest Khoza, but reiterates our demand for the immediate resignation of Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande.

While we welcome both developments, ActionSA believes that the collective should not be under any illusion that they have evaded accountability. As our criminal charges are being investigated by the police, we extend the invitation to the Minister Blade Nzimande to also resign immediately.

ActionSA filed criminal charges against both the outgoing Minister and former Board Chairperson following their alleged involvement in a corrupt scheme related to the fraudulent direct payment of allowances, which continues to wreak havoc throughout the higher education sector.

We have long called for the Minister and NSFAS Board to be held accountable for their disastrous introduction of the fraudulent direct payment of allowances scheme, which was nothing but an elaborate con orchestrated by tenderpreneurs in cahoots with NSFAS officials to siphon billions from the financial aid scheme.

While a few crooks in suits sitting in boardrooms forged ahead with their fraud, hundreds of thousands of students, the majority of whom are already vulnerable, paid the price. They faced months without access to their critical allowances, with many spending nights on street pavements for shelter, going to bed hungry, unable to travel to campus, or afford essentials like soap and toothpaste.

It is recognition of this injustice that ActionSA Students Chapter will be embarking on a march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum calling for the immediate removal of the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Blade Nzimande.

ActionSA is committed to ensuring that students receive justice for this travesty and will continue to fight against corruption, particularly ensuring that every participant in the fraud that stole from the mouths of students is brought before a magistrate and held accountable for their crimes.

Issued by Hluphi Gafane, Youth Forum Chairperson, ActionSA, 12 April 2024