Parliament has summoned the administrator of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas), Prof Hlengani Mathebula, and former board members to a meeting today.
This follows Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela’s controversial decision to place the embattled student funding entity under administration for a second time.
Parliament summons Nsfas administrator
The chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education, Tebogo Letsie, confirmed sending the summons on 7 May.
At the crux of the engagement is the alleged “secretive” meeting that the minister allegedly held with selected Nsfas board members outside formally constituted board processes.
The meeting in Cape Town forms part of parliament’s oversight into the latest governance crisis engulfing the multibillion-rand scheme.
According to the letter addressed to Mathebula, the committee wants a formal briefing from Manamela on the decision to invoke Sections 17A and 17D of the Nsfas Act to place the entity under administration.
“The committee also plans to engage the former board members on allegations that the minister convened or participated in a secretive meeting with only certain members of the Nsfas board, outside of formally constituted board processes and without a formal agenda,” Letsie said in the letter.
Ex-board called over governance, transparency and travel concerns
He also instructed Nsfas to ask to former board members to attend and assist with their travel arrangements to Cape Town. Mathebula did not share the instruction with the former board members.
This raised further concerns about transparency between the administrator and parliament’s oversight processes.
“We do not know how we will get to Cape Town. The letter states the administrator must ensure we are there but he has kept the invitation from us. Obviously he does not want us there,” a board member said.
Parliament’s intervention comes amid escalating tensions following the minister’s decision to dissolve the board and appoint Mathebula as the administrator.
