About R320 million in student funding has not been recovered from inactive accounts connected to NSFAS’s former Celbux platform.
The Special Investigating Unit disclosed the amount while briefing Parliament’s Standing Committee on Higher Education about its ongoing examination of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
The money is linked to a payment system that NSFAS abandoned in 2022. Some institutions have questioned whether they should repay the balances while separate disputes over unpaid fees remain unresolved.
Old Celbux balances remain unresolved
Celbux enabled students to receive allowances through vouchers associated with their cellphone numbers. Although the platform is no longer used, the SIU found that accounts opened as far back as 2018 still contain unused funds.
The investigation covered 58 institutions in every province.
Many of the institutions accepted that surplus balances would eventually have to be returned after the reconciliation process. Others, however, said they intended to retain the money because NSFAS had not settled amounts owed to them from earlier academic years.
The outstanding institutional claims against NSFAS are estimated at R10.4 billion.
SIU seeks repayment of unused funds
The SIU has called on institutions to return undisputed portions of the balances while it continues checking cases involving students whose records could not be verified.
Where institutions earned interest by placing the money in interest-bearing accounts, the SIU said that interest should also be included in any repayment.
The Celbux issue is one part of a broader investigation into weaknesses in NSFAS’s administration and payment processes.
The SIU reported that more than 40,000 students at 76 institutions received funding improperly, resulting in an estimated loss or exposure of R5.1 billion.
Direct-payment contracts also under scrutiny
The investigation also examined NSFAS agreements with Coinvest Africa, Tenet Technology, Ezaga Holdings and Norraco Corporation for the distribution of student allowances.
According to the SIU, NSFAS did not follow its own procurement requirements and breached Section 217(1) of the Constitution when it approved the five-year contracts.
The Western Cape High Court subsequently set aside the appointments as unconstitutional and invalid. The court did not find the companies themselves responsible for maladministration, corruption or other improper conduct.
Dr Thato Masekoa of the South African Union of Students said the findings reflected deeper problems in the scheme’s oversight and financial controls.
He said students should not bear the consequences of administrative failures and argued that any recovered funds should be directed towards stronger safeguards, reliable payments and improved assistance for eligible students.