Uncovering the truth: Nsfas's ghost students claim sparks controversy over accommodation payments

Piles of luggage stand at various places at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) District 6 Campus on February 26, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. It is reported that a delegation from the Minister of Higher Education, Department of Higher Education and NSFAS visited the campus to try to find a solution to the student accommodation crisis at CPUT. (Photo: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais)

By Siyabonga Goni

26 Mar 2025

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme says it has discovered that some accommodation providers submitted names of ghost students who aren’t enrolled in any universities or colleges.

After numerous reported threats to evict students from accommodation following the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) failure to pay accommodation providers in time after not meeting the deadline agreed upon by both the scheme and providers, NSFAS says it has uncovered that there are ghost students in the information submitted by providers, which has caused delays in processing funds.

According to NSFAS spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi, on 27 January 2025, the scheme approved and disseminated the lease agreements to be uploaded to the accommodation portal. Through the portal, NSFAS made the functionality available for accommodation providers to begin signing on the same day across all four portals. The deadline for submitting payment claims for the current payment run was set for 14 March. A verification process was then completed to ensure everything was going smoothly.

However, “during the verification process, NSFAS identified ghost students, who are neither funded by NSFAS nor enrolled in any public university or college. This discovery underscores the importance of the verification process, which is a crucial step for NSFAS in processing payments to accommodation providers,” Mnisi said.

NSFAS would now investigate all accommodation providers who had submitted incorrect information in an attempt to “unlawfully benefit from funds intended for legitimate NSFAS-funded students”.

“The scheme has now committed itself to resolving issues of payments after setting a new date. NSFAS is committed to ensuring that funds are disbursed promptly. It is equally important to maintain a rigorous verification process to guarantee that all claims are legitimate and in accordance with established policies.”

Accommodation providers would now be paid on a new date – Monday, 31 March.

Outstanding payments

Early this year, the Private Student Housing Association (PSHA), which represents developers, institutional owners and operators overseeing more than 80,000 student beds across the country, urged NSFAS to resolve outstanding payments to prevent significant disruptions.

The scheme owes PSHA members R44-million in overdue rental fees. The PSHA said that if these payments are not made promptly, students may be denied access to their housing, jeopardising a smooth start to the academic year.

Daily Maverick contacted the PHSA and was referred to the National Association of Student Accommodations Transformation (Nasat) for comment.

The association helps landlords to resolve their problems.

Read more: Unpaid NSFAS fees threaten student accommodation: a looming crisis ahead of 2025 academic year

Nasat deputy secretary-general Julian King told Daily Maverick that the organisation rejected NSFAS’ claim about ghost students, adding that the scheme is pushing back dates for payments.

“We categorically reject that statement that is using accommodation providers as scapegoats, claiming that there are ghost students… Last year we had a stakeholder engagement meeting where administrator Freeman Nomvalo stated to us that on 7th and 28th of December, payments for all 2024 outstanding legitimate claims would be paid. That did not happen. We were then told by his adviser that a payment would be done on the 13th of January. That did not take place. We were then told that the payment run will be done on the 28th of February,” King said.

NSFAS student accommodation Piles of students’ belongings on the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s District 6 campus amid the accommodation crisis on 26 February 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)

‘Ghost students’

Concerns about ghost students have been raised before. In 2023, News24 reported that NSFAS disbursed a R1,650 monthly allowance to 157,980 “ghost students” through the state-funded programme. This significant discrepancy accounts for almost R260.7-million that cannot be traced in the monthly allocation of government funds.

During this period, investigations by Werksmans Attorneys and advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC in August 2023 found that the appointment of a technical adviser to the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) was irregular, along with a possible relationship between NSFAS CEO Andile Nongogo and three service providers that were responsible for disbursing students funds. This led to Nongogo being fired by the then board chairperson, Ernest Khosa.

When Daily Maverick spoke to the recently appointed acting CEO of NSFAS, Waseem Carrim, he said that NSFAS must rebuild its supply chain management across people, processes and systems.

“The institution (needs to) ensure all its contracts are awarded in line with the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury Regulations. Furthermore, these contractual agreements need to be performance-managed to ensure that NSFAS and the student population are deriving value for money,” Carrim said. DM

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Outstanding payments

‘Ghost students’