SIU bemoans lack of control measures at NSFAS
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has so far recovered more than R737 million in its probe into fraud and corruption at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
According to the investigating unit, the amount includes R688 million in unallocated funds.
On Wednesday, the unit presented its findings to Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, telling MPs it had also signed an acknowledgement of debt agreements of R49.7 million with Motheo Technical Vocational Education and Training College in the Free State.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the unallocated funds are due to poor control systems and a lack of reconciliation processes by NSFAS.
“The SIU investigation has revealed that NSFAS failed to design and implement controls to ensure that there is an annual reconciliation between the funds disbursed to the institutions and the allocation of those funds to the students.
“These control weaknesses have led to overpayments and underpayments of funds to the different institutions over the period 2017 to date. NSFAS has recently appointed a service provider to assist them in performing this reconciliation via a process called ‘close-out reporting’. The reconciliation process is still ongoing.”
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