NSFAS BLACKLIST SERVICES PROVIDERS @KASIBC_NEWS

NSFAS BLACKLIST SERVICES PROVIDERS @KASIBC_NEWS

The Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation (DASO) today calls on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to urgently investigate and blacklist service providers that have subjected students to squalor off-campus residences at the Umfolozi Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college’s Nkandla campus.

During an unannounced oversight visit, DASO inspected two privately run, NSFAS-accredited residences that house students. We found conditions so degrading that they violate the Minimum Norms and Standards for Student Housing and the very purpose of the NSFAS accommodation allowance.

We therefore call on NSFAS to launch an urgent investigation, blacklist the service-providers concerned, and guarantee every student a safe, dignified place to live.

Upon inspection of the first off-campus residences off a dirt road behind the campus, we found that each small room was thread-bare and had two single beds meant to accommodate two students per room; a small doorless cupboard/shelf space for both students to share; one naked bulb on the ceiling; no study desk; and no running water in their rooms. There was a communal ablution block of raw cement and tin roofing where 60-plus students share two toilets and four (4 ) showers and are required to use JoJo tanks. Of major further concern was the fact that there were no security personnel, fire extinguishers or emergency exits.

The second residence we visited was even more dilapidated with smaller derelict rooms and broken windows. There was no central kitchen, and students were forced to cook in their tiny rooms. It was clear from both residences that there was zero fire-safety equipment and no perimeter security—an obvious fire and crime hazard.

Despite these appalling conditions, the landlords reportedly charge R3 000 per student per month, the full NSFAS accommodation allowance, effectively profiteering from vulnerable beneficiaries. This is a blatant breach of national standards for student housing which demands adequate space, lighting, sanitation, security, and study areas, none of which are met in these facilities.

This is a terrible misuse of public funds as NSFAS disburses taxpayer money on the assumption that accredited residences meet the standard grading criteria it has laid down for private providers. The academic impact is also of concern as overcrowded, unsafe and unsanitary environments undermine students’ ability to study, threatening throughput rates the TVET sector desperately needs to improve.

As DASO, we call on NSFAS to:

- To conduct an urgent inspection and investigation of these premises and to furthermore interrogate how the residence was accredited.

- To Suspend and blacklist the service provider if indeed the investigation reveals there has been fraudulent activity.

- To move students to dignified alternate housing in an environment that will allow them to flourish.

- To strengthen whistleblower channels for students to report violations without fear of eviction or victimisation

We refuse to leave any student behind. Young people are the future of South Africa, and we cannot stand by as they are robbed of the opportunity to make the most of the educational opportunities afforded to them.