NSFAS Under Administration for the Third Time
A WARNING SIGN FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S STUDENT FUNDING SYSTEM
The decision to place the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, under administration for the third time should be read as more than another governance development. It is a warning sign about the pressure on one of South Africa’s most important public institutions, and the fragility of the systems that support access to higher education.
On 4 May 2026, Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela placed NSFAS under administration, citing governance instability, legal concerns and operational weaknesses that threatened the credibility and stability of the scheme. Professor Hlengani Mathebula has been appointed as administrator, bringing experience in governance, financial management and institutional leadership.
THE IMMEDIATE CONCERN IS CONTINUITY
NSFAS is not a distant administrative body for the students who depend on it. It is the mechanism through which many poor and working-class students access higher education and training. When that mechanism becomes unstable, the consequences are felt in lecture halls, residences, homes and campuses across the country.
The reasons for the intervention are serious. Concerns include a disclaimer audit outcome for the 2024/25 financial year, material irregularities identified by the Auditor-General, data integrity concerns, unresolved student appeals, delays in ICT modernisation, student accommodation failures, and broader governance and accountability weaknesses. These are not minor administrative issues. They go to the heart of whether a funding system of this scale can reliably identify, fund and support the students it exists to serve.
LEADERSHIP INSTABILITY HAS ALSO PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE
The NSFAS board was dissolved after just over a year in office, following a series of departures and internal governance concerns. The minister indicated that ordinary governance arrangements were no longer sufficient to stabilise the institution with the urgency required, while also assuring the public that allowance disbursements should continue as normal.
What makes this moment especially concerning is that it is not an isolated episode. This is the third time since 2018 that NSFAS has been placed under administration, following previous interventions led by Randal Carolissen from 2018 to 2021 and Freeman Nomvalo from 2024 to 2025. Repeated administration suggests that the challenge is not simply one board, one executive team or one operational failure. It points to a deeper institutional design and execution problem.
FOR STUDENTS AND INSTITUTIONS, THE SHORT-TERM PRIORITY IS PRACTICAL STABILITY
Funding decisions, allowance payments, appeals, accommodation processes and communication channels must continue with as little disruption as possible. Universities and TVET colleges also need predictability, because uncertainty in student funding can affect registration, student debt, accommodation planning and institutional operations.
The longer-term lesson is that access to higher education depends on more than budget allocations. A funding scheme can have a powerful social mandate and still fall short if its governance, systems, data and accountability mechanisms are weak. Student funding must work not only in policy, but in practice.
THE LATEST INTERVENTION MAY BE NECESSARY
But it should not become normal. South Africa needs a student funding system that is stable enough to withstand leadership changes, transparent enough to earn public trust, and efficient enough to serve students with dignity.
NSFAS remains central to the country’s higher education project. The task now is to ensure that it is not only rescued again, but rebuilt in a way that lasts.
