Andile Nongogo has been fired as the CEO of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) amid a R47-billion payments scandal.
NSFAS explains why Andile Nongogo was ‘relieved of his duties’
NSFAS board chairperson Ernest Khoza informed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday that Nongogo was terminated. The decision was finalised on Monday night.
Last week, NSFAS disclosed findings from an investigation by Werkmans Attorneys and advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
The investigation revealed several irregularities, including that Nongogo handpicked four firms to pay around 1.1 million students their R1,650 monthly allowances directly.
This was a departure from the previous system, where payments were funnelled through tertiary institutions. Four companies implicated in the scandal were named in the investigative report.
NSFAS student crisis origins traced to Nongogo’s payments scandal
In August 2023, NSFAS placed Nongogo on a leave of absence pending an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct related to awarding bids.
This followed an expose by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), which had been investigating the issue since September 2022.
Despite OUTA’s reports and public concerns, the new direct payment system was implemented on 30 June 2023. This negatively impacted the payment of NSFAS allowances to thousands of students.
OUTA welcomed Nongogo’s termination and called for corrective action concerning the service providers.
“It is a shame that scarce public resources continue to be wasted like this, while legitimate concerns by civil society and people who are directly affected by poor government decisions – in this case students who rely on financial aid – are ignored by those in power. The actions of executives at higher education institutions have a huge impact on the youth and the future of our country and should always be above suspicion,” OUTA’s Rudie Heyneke said in a statement at the time.
The organisation pointed out that two of the four companies were not even registered as VAT vendors. One had dubious links to tenders awarded during Nongogo’s previous role at the Services SETA, another issue that OUTA had highlighted in its communications with the Ministry of Higher Education.
“We have gathered a lot of information on Nongogo’s past actions at the Services SETA and would like to assist Minister Nzimande in tackling corruption in the higher education sector,” Heyneke said.
Neither Nongogo nor his associates have surfaced with public reaction to Tuesday’s developments.