ActionSA to challenge NSFAS direct payments in court
ActionSA will take the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to court to challenge the awarding of a contract for the direct payment of allowances.
The party's youth structure briefed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
NSFAS recently implemented a direct payment system for student allowances through their bank card at TVET colleges.
The system has also been implemented at all universities.
Previously, NSFAS paid student allowances through the financial divisions of all universities.
ActionSA Western Cape Students Chairperson Matthew George said they want to prevent NSFAS from becoming a feeding trough for tenderpreneurs.
"We are to take the matter to the High Court to declare the decision to outsource the disbursement of student allowance manifestly irrational in the first place.
"We will also be asking the High Court to set aside the awarding of the contract itself as it is evident that the service provider/(s) are ill-equipped to do the job. We firmly believe that it is in the best interest of the taxpayer and students we embark on this unprecedented legal action."
George said the contracted financial technology companies do not have the capacity to undertake the payment system.
"The 'NSFAS Bank Accounts' provided by four inexperienced service providers offer significantly more expensive solutions than those offered by four of the largest commercial banks in the country, all of whom were unsuccessful bidders."
"It is clear that neither NSFAS nor the 4 appointed companies have the capacity to implement the migration," he added.
NSFAS spokesperson Slumezi Skosana said Action SA has the right to challenge the decision in court.
"It is within their right to proceed with that action if there is some legal relief that they want. We live in a democratic constitutional country, and they can do that."
"The reason we introduced the system is for accountability for the money we give to the students, because in the past we had experiences where the money would be passed on to universities for other programmes."
He used the example of a Walter Sisulu University student who received R14 million from NSFAS as the type of errors it wants to eliminate.
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