Student faces legal action over R14m NSFAS payment 'error'
30 August 2017
Cape Town – The Walter Sisulu University student who received a R14.1m NSFAS payment bonanza and spent a portion of it, faces legal action, said Intellimali, the company which facilitates student payments.
"The student, whose name is known to Intellimali, did not report the oversight, but chose rather to access the funds. When the error was discovered in early August 2017, she had misappropriated R818 000," CEO Michael Ansell said in a statement on Wednesday.
Ansell said the R14.1m was deposited into her account in error in June 2017. It happened during a payment run to 3 500 students at Walter Sisulu University who are financed by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The overpayment was the first in 10 years of loading R5bn worth of allowances for books and food that students access with an Intellicard account. No other student was overpaid, Ansell said.