Nzimande vows to sue Outa for spreading ‘nefarious’ lies

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has called a damaging report by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) a “nefarious” lie that emanates from a malicious “fight-back” campaign.

This, he says, has damaged his good name, threatened trust in the students’ payment system and resulted in death threats aimed at the chairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

At a press briefing on Monday, Nzimande took aim at the report and recordings of conversations between NSFAS chairperson Ernest Khosa and two suppliers in which they discuss alleged kickbacks, mismanagement and political meddling in the scheme.

Nzimande was identified as a key figure in the saga.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Calls for action after recordings expose alleged cosy relationship between Blade Nzimande, NSFAS chair Ernest Khosa and service providers

Four suppliers — Coinvest Africa (Pty) Ltd, Tenet Technology (Pty) Ltd, Ezaga Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Norraco Corporation (Pty) Ltd — were appointed in June 2022 to handle direct payments to students, which Outa says they were ill-equipped to do, causing the NSFAS payment system to collapse.

Months after these suppliers were appointed, Outa sounded the alarm that awarding the tender to these service providers would cause payment issues. 

It has also published several reports exposing how funds were being mismanaged and the role of former NSFAS CEO Andile Nongogo (previously the CEO of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority, or SSETA) in the alleged corruption at NSFAS. 

Among the issues cited by Outa are authorised payments of R93,579 for 20 branded T-shirts (costing R4,679 each); R264,340 for six branded umbrellas (R44,057 per umbrella); R36,300 to design a letterhead, and R668,200 to print 100 copies of the Services Seta Annual Performance Plan. This happened in 2017/8 while Nongogo was the CEO at SSETA. He was the official responsible for managing the tender in terms of the Service Level Agreement — awarded to Five Stars Communication and Projects, which also belongs to the owner of Star Sign and Print, Anastacia Baloyi.

On Thursday, Outa released the recordings, transcripts of the recordings and a detailed 51-page report on the alleged corruption, in which Khosa, an unnamed supplier and Thula Ntumba, the husband of Tshegofatso Ntumba (a director in Coinvest, one of four service providers appointed to disburse payments to students), discuss corruption investigations and alleged kickbacks for tenders, favours and “protection”.

Nzimande appointed both Nongogo as CEO of NSFAS and Khosa as the chairperson of the NSFAS board. Nzimande remains associated with the SA Communist Party (SACP), after serving as its general secretary for 24 years.

Ntumba is heard in the recording mentioning a gift of T-shirts and bags for the SACP’s 2022 conference — provided through his wife’s company, Star Sign and Print — and allegedly gave the party R1-million.

The SACP has denied receiving favours, with spokesperson Alex Mashilo telling Daily Maverick that they have “never and will never” approach anyone to seek “illegitimate” funding. 

“We will not allow anyone to engage in shenanigans and to try and co-opt the name of our party into those shenanigans. We stand firm in our stance against corruption. We saw the transcripts of the recordings by the third party from Outa, but we remain firm in what we have said.”

Nzimande’s department tweeted a clumsy response on Friday, saying he rejected the malicious allegations.

“The minister views the allegations… as reckless and largely based on gossip and are intended to determine a smooth start to the 2024 academic year. Furthermore, given the damaging allegations continued in this report, the minister reserves the right to take the necessary legal action.”

Ntumba couldn’t be reached and requests for comment from Coinvest and Tshegofatso Ntumba went unanswered.

There was no response from either NSFAS or Khosa.

On Monday, Nzimande called Outa’s report an attempt to tarnish his image as well as that of the department and the government. 

“I have never used any money from any of my department’s entities for the purpose of funding the South African Communist Party, as maliciously and forces suggested in the Outa report. Nor have I received any personnel kickbacks from any of the service providers or any of the other entities falling under my department. I therefore wish to dismiss this baseless insinuation by Outa.”

He said his conscience was clear and he had nothing to hide, which is why he reserved his right to take the necessary legal action. 

“I’ve also voluntarily decided that I’m going to subject myself to the relevant legal processes and ethics bodies of the African National Congress, its integrity committee, and the South African Communist Party (and) its central ethics commission.”

Meanwhile, Outa tweeted that Nzimande was welcome to sue them. 

“Outa will defend any legal action taken against us. (It’s not the first time we are threatened. NSFAS threatened us with defamation because we said we uncovered #corruption with the tender contracts of the four service providers. Something which the #WerksmansReport confirmed.)

“And if #BladeNzimande has nothing to hide, @CyrilRamaphosa @PresidencyZA must broaden the scope for the @RSASIU without fail to also include this. And also, remember that #AndileNongogo himself referred to these voice recordings where Khosa is discussing him being fired.”

The DA has questioned what it called “systemic corruption” in the department and said it would lay criminal charges against Nzimande and wants the NSFAS board to be declared delinquent.

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