Blade Nzimande: NSFAS has not failed, it’s the ANC’s success story

Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is the African National Congress (ANC)’s “success story”.

While answering questions in the National Council of Provinces, the minister dismissed claims that the funding agency was failing students.

Nzimande said the scheme’s functioning optimally despite challenges including fraud.

He was back before Parliament on Tuesday to face questions about students who fraudulently benefit from NSFAS despite dropping out.

But Nzimande said there were steps in place to prevent double dipping by recipients.

Nzimande said the scheme was one of the governing party’s biggest successes: “NSFAS has not failed. NSFAS is the success story of this ANC government since it was established. We actually will be celebrating 13 years of NSFAS this year and NSFAS is functioning optimally.”

Nzimande said audits have revealed that 35,000 students were cheating the system.

“We have had students who do not deserve to be funded as I have said. We have discovered 35,000 [students] earlier this year,” he said.

The minister was also questioned about when he will table the report regarding the multi-billion-rand corruption at the National Skills Fund.

-EWN

In other news – 3 top actors leave The River

Viewers of 1Magic’s telenovela The River have been all over social media trying to find out if lead actor Hlomla Dandala is leaving the show.

On Saturday, 15 October, the actor who plays as Zweli took to Instagram to share that he was leaving a show but didn’t specify which one. His fans automatically assumed he was talking about The River. He wrote: “The end of an actor’s time on a long-running show is always bitter-sweet. Learn More