Parly committee questions NSFAS spending R2.5m a month on renting offices in CT
The higher education and training portfolio committee said that NSFAS could not complain about a lack of resources when it paid over R2 million a month for rent.
Freeman Nomvala. Picture: X/myNSFAS
CAPE TOWN - The higher education and training portfolio committee said that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) could not complain about a lack of resources when it paid over R2 million a month for rent.
MPs in the committee on Wednesday questioned the use of the Cape Town Foreshore head office in one of the city’s prime office blocks with views of Cape Town harbour.
They said it also did not make sense why NSFAS was headquartered in Cape Town and not Gauteng, where most students were concentrated.
The committee received a briefing from NSFAS and administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, to receive an update on funding for students and the process in resolving some of its challenges.
The committee started its oversight at the NSFAS head office, with a lengthy walkabout in the new offices which also house the entity’s call centre.
They also had some questions about the hefty rent, despite NSFAS being under-capacitated in key departments.
Committee chairperson, Tebego Letsie: "R2.5 million to rent offices when the Department of Public Works has plenty of buildings in South Africa that are under-utilised, when you could have used one year's rent to fix those buildings and make them world-class."
Administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, said he didn’t have any knowledge of the matter, rather emphasising that their systems remained inadequate.