Nzimande denies corruption at the root of NSFAS woes
Department of Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande says a lack of capacity may be the root cause for the woes faced by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The funding scheme has been plagued by claims of fraud, bad leadership and a shortage of funding for years.
But Nzimande denied claims that corruption had crippled the funding scheme.
Nzimande appointed a Ministerial Task Team to conduct a review of the NSFAS to strengthen its general operations.
He briefed media on the outcomes of the meeting held with Sector Education and Training Authority (SETAs) in Pretoria on Friday.
"If you have corruption or maladministration, it's good if you take the necessary action for people to account but you should not stop there, because some of these things is because there is not enough capacity in the system,” said Nzimande.
“Consequence management must not only just be punishment, but part of consequent management must be corrective activity to build capacity."
Last month, Nzimande appointed a private forensic company to investigate the R5 billion that went missing in the National Skills Fund.
"We have also agreed to fight all forms of maladministration and acts of corruption within our SETAs, this is the reason that we had to place the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) under administration.
“The forensic investigation into CETA is now complete and we are processing it as the Department, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that all those who uses the SETAs for their own personal benefits are held accountable,” Nzimande added.
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