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The Citizen
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Thousands march against Nsfas in Durban after months of non-payment [VIDEO]
One company said it is owed more than R17.5 million by Nsfas. Students in KwaZulu-Natal-based staged a protest on Friday demanding that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) pay the money owed to landlords. Some of the students have not received funds from Nsfas for up to five months, meaning they are at risk of losing their accommodation, they can't afford food and their studies have not been paid for. Students and landlords march against Nsfas About 2 000 angry protesters gathered at King Dinuzulu Park and proceeded to Durban City Hall to hand over a memorandum of grievances. Some of the landlords also joined the protest. Philani Mncwabe, the executive director of MSR Consultants, a company that deals with student accommodation in KwaZulu-Natal, said several landlords decided to participate in the march because Nsfas owes them money. Watch: Students and landlords protest against Nsfas Mncwabe said his company alone is owed more than R17.5 million. 'We would like to express our deep concern regarding the ongoing non-payment of accommodation allowances by the Nsfas, which continues to affect over 700 Thekwini TVET College students residing in our properties. As of today, students have not received their housing allowances for more than five months, resulting in an accumulated debt exceeding R17.5 million owed to MSR Consultants alone. 'We are demanding urgent intervention from Nsfas and the Department of Higher Education and Training. This action is not only a reflection of the escalating crisis but a desperate call for accountability and a sustainable solution.' Reasons for Nsfas non-payment Mncwabe said that at the core of the non-payment issue is the systemic failure of technical and vocational education and training [TVET] institutions to submit timely and complete registration data, ongoing defunding of students without adequate explanation and Nsfas' internal inefficiencies in processing payments. He said, as a result of Nsfas' failure, hundreds of students are being left without stable accommodation and basic necessities and landlords are being forced to carry financial burdens that threaten the sustainability of private student housing. ALSO READ: Higher education minister apologises for late Nsfas payments, addresses appeals He said he had not yet evicted any students, as that would compromise their right to education and dignity. 'Instead, we are exhausting all democratic avenues — including this march — to raise our concerns and demand collective action. 'We also wish to highlight that the crisis extends beyond TVETs. We currently accommodate over 300 students across the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and Durban University of Technology (DUT), many of whom have not received payment or have recently been defunded. Some students from the previous academic period remain unpaid, adding to the growing debt owed to us.' He added that the problem not only impacts landlords and students — it affects institutions themselves. The protesters' demands included: Parliament and the executive to urgently allocate an additional budget to Nsfas; The minister of higher education to engage the TVET sector with the same urgency she has shown toward universities; and Nsfas to establish a national student accommodation forum made up of representatives from landlords, institutions, student bodies, South African Local Government Association (Salga), Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and a national task team to oversee crisis response and long-term sector planning. Mncwabe said they were instructed to hand over the memorandum to the City Hall management, as Nsfas and the DHET representatives were not available to receive it. By the time of publication, Nsfas and the DHET had not responded to questions from The Citizen. NOW READ: Nsfas recovers over R850 million following SIU probe
IOL News
07-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Service providers storm KZN Health and Education departments
The National School Nutrition Programme is a vital lifeline for over 9 million poor learners across the country. Image: Supplied TWO KwaZulu-Natal departments are struggling to pay their service providers, which has led to the latter storming their offices to demand their overdue payments. The KZN departments of Health and Education were on Monday confronted by unpaid service providers who demanded their payments and gave the departments ultimatums. Companies that are service providers for the South African National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), popularly known as the school feeding scheme, said they have no idea how they will manage to survive after months of being unpaid by the Education Department. The service providers allege the department has been making empty promises for some time. Some said they are still waiting for payment for delivery of food from last year. The NSNP serves more than 2 million pupils across the province in 5400. A representative of the school feeding scheme service providers in KZN, Thabang Mncwabe, said service providers are going through a difficult time. "There are service providers who have not been paid since last year. Some are paid insufficient amounts. We don't know who takes the rest and where they take it because the national Department of Education pays out the full amount," said Mncwabe. "We had been relying on Ithala; since it's now closed, we're now at the mercy of loan sharks. Even they are tired of us because we fail to pay them. We keep looking over our shoulders because we owe loan sharks." The Department of Education promised to pay them on Thursday. In a statement the department said 78% of the service providers were paid in April and said the rest weren't paid because of glitches with the implementation of a new financial system. The head of the department, Nkosinathi Ngcobo, apologised to the service providers who were not paid. Today, the department issued a new statement. "As of 24 April 2025, 78% of the payments were successfully processed. Subsequent attempts to finalise the remaining payments on 25 April and 2 May were unsuccessful due to technical difficulties linked to the implementation of a new financial system, BAS Version 6, which is an upgrade from the previous BAS Version 5. The National Treasury's IT team is currently working around the clock to resolve the system failures. "The payment run that was scheduled to take place yesterday, 06 May 2025, was successful for the remaining 22% of unpaid service providers, and they will receive their payments on 09 May 2025. The department has full records of all unpaid service providers. These lists have been shared with district offices to ensure that affected service providers are kept informed and that no further disruptions occur in the provision of meals to learners. "We acknowledge the concerns raised by our valued service providers and wish to assure them that the department is doing everything possible to resolve the technical glitches affecting payment processes. The problem has nothing to do with the financial difficulties of the department, for the NSNP is paid from the grant allocation. "We remain committed to transparency, timeous communication, and the uninterrupted provision of meals to our learners across the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. As a department, we would like to thank all stakeholders for their patience and cooperation as we work to stabilise the system and maintain the integrity of the National School Nutrition Programme,' said Ngcobo.
