The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the R311 million return payment by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The funds returned by the institution were unallocated funds from 2016 to 2021.
This comes after the SIU launched an investigation into the funds that remained in the bank accounts of the universities for a year.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed that UJ returned the money, which brought it up to about R349.3m since the inception of the NSFAS investigation in September 2022.
He said the unallocated funds were for students who qualified for funding but either changed institutions, deregistered or did not even register at the university.
Kganyago revealed that during the investigation period they discovered that the financial aid scheme was not in a position to reconcile all the monies that were supposed to be reconciled. He said the money was supposed to be in the bank account for a year.
[WATCH] The Special Investigating Unit welcomes the payment of R311 million made by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), SIU spokesperson Mr Kaizer Kganyago explains. pic.twitter.com/rpSwqWjdAa
— Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (@RSASIU) May 2, 2023
According to the SIU, the unallocated funds were supposed to have been collected by the NSFAS at the end of each year from institutions of higher learning through reconciliation.
To remedy this, the NSFAS has recently appointed a service provider to collect all the monies left unattended by the institution.
Furthermore, Kganyago called on institutions of higher learning to reconcile their books to bring back the money so that it can be used for the purpose it was intended for.
The SIU further stated that it will investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of the NSFAS, and also to recover any financial losses suffered by the state through corruption and negligence.
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