Cape Town - Some National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) beneficiaries will be able to breathe a sigh of relief after the financial body processed bulk payments to landlords of private student accommodation for outstanding payments.
The payments were made following consultations with NSFAS administrator Freeman Nomvalo and key stakeholders, wherein concerns over the outstanding payments were highlighted.
NSFAS said a bulk payment was processed by the end of May and beginning of June, with the next scheduled payment no later than June 18.
When queried, NSFAS was unable to state how much money was paid out as part of the bulk payments.
Nomvalo also appealed to landlords not to evict students with outstanding payments and said NSFAS was committed to ensuring all legitimate claims were resolved no later than June 18.
Landlords who did not submit their claims for outstanding payments have been asked to refer queries to [email protected].
Nomvalo also called on TVET students who do not have a bank account to open an account and to submit their bank details on the NSFAS established portal to avoid delays in the payment of their allowances.
The banking details provided must belong to the student to enable NSFAS to verify these against the student’s details on their records.
EFFSC UWC branch convener Solly Mdingi said they welcomed the bulk payments from NSFAS.
“We are aware of many cases of students falling victim to the anger of unpaid landlords, with some being threatened to be evicted, some asked to settle half the rent on their own.
“Notwithstanding our understanding of the valid complaints brought forward by landlords, we condemn all the landlords who force their tenants (students) who are NSFAS beneficiaries, to settle half of the rent owed to them by NSFAS, so long as they wait for NSFAS to settle their bills.”
To ask these students, who depend on financial assistance, to settle 50% of the outstanding payment can be likened to extortion and should be condemned, he added.
“Many times, NSFAS has promised to roll out payments to either students or landlords with failure, so we cannot keep our hopes high but we do expect them to keep their end of the bargain. We remain cautiously optimistic.”
Cape Argus