Deputy Minister Buti Manamela snubs SCOPA meeting, wasting taxpayers’ money

Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Farhat Essack MP

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela today failed to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) where the National Skills Fund (NSF) and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) were meant to brief the Committee on their 2022/23 annual reports and updates on the investigations conducted by the SIU.

The Deputy Minister failed to attend, and only sent a letter of apology, which the chairperson received this morning. Not only was his absence disrespectful to the committee, but it came at a cost to South African taxpayers. Twenty-five representatives from the Department, NSFAS, NSF, and the SIU were at the meeting that the committee chair unanimously decided could not go ahead if the Deputy Minister was not there to account.

It is completely unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is being squandered on flights, accommodation, and expenses for representatives from NSFAS, the NSF, the Department of Higher Education, and the SIU, who attended the meeting. Moreover, a second round of such expenditure is expected for the next scheduled meeting, which the DA urges the Deputy Minister to attend.

The Deputy Minister’s absence was a blatant disregard for the thousands of students whose futures have been jeopardised by the corruption and mismanagement at NSFAS and NSF.

The ailing NSFAS has been embroiled in numerous scandals recently, namely:

· Alleged kickbacks to former Minister Dr Blade Nzimande and the South African Communist Party (SACP);

· Possible student accommodation accreditation corruption and kickbacks with unsafe accommodation facilities being accredited;

· The R3.8 billion NSFAS loan scheme that is at risk of not being realised;

· Late payments of allowances to students leaving many hungry and destitute and putting the completion of their studies in jeopardy; and

· Tenders to people connected to NSFAS big wigs.

The NSF is not exempt from issues either.

An investigation has revealed that billions of NSF funds were misused across 10 projects. The DA has called for the scope of the investigation to be expanded to include all NSF projects.

The Nexus forensic report on the 10 investigated projects uncovered widespread corruption, poor governance, unfilled vacancies, inadequate financial systems, and ineffective project management processes within the NSF.

We urge the Deputy Minister, responsible for these entities, to attend the next scheduled meeting so that these critical issues can be addressed as a matter of urgency.