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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS is spending more than R2-million a month on rent for its upscale Cape Town offices. The higher education and training minister said this was too high, and plans are being made to terminate the lease. The director-general of the Department of Higher Education and Training agrees.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are in plans to terminate the contract that we have with the landlord in our Cape Town offices because it doesn’t make any business sense. The plan is to decentralise … we are going to establish regional offices in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal,” said Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane on Monday, 16 September. </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane was briefing the media on the latest developments on NSFAS and the opening of applications for 2025.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img_6992-2/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2329841\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_6992.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1511\" height=\"835\" /></a> <em>National Student Financial Aid Scheme administrator Freeman Nomvalo answers questions at a committee meeting at the Cape Town NSFAS offices on Wednesday, 21 August. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She said the reason for moving to the expensive premises was because of limited space at the former office in Wynberg. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asked for comment, NSFAS referred Daily Maverick to Higher Education and Training Director-General Nkosinathi Sishi, who shared Nkabane’s sentiments. He said they wanted to negotiate an exit from the premises with the landlords. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It is a contractual issue. We want to work with them [the landlords] because there is no dispute between us. It is just about getting our lawyers together to agree on a settlement and once that is done we can move out quickly,” said Sishi. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A date for vacating the premises is yet to be announced.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick previously visited the swish offices with members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education and training, where it was discovered that NSFAS had employed up to 86 people to handle appeals and call centre queries.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick subsequently reported on staff backlogs and call centre issues at these offices.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-22-mps-voice-shock-over-r2m-rent-for-nsfas-swish-c-town-office/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS battles backlogs, staff and tech woes as MPs criticise R2m rent for swish Cape Town offices</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In March 2022, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse revealed that NSFAS had signed a five-year lease with Dynamic SA Holding for office space, beginning on 1 February 2022. The lease, for two years with a possible three-year extension, would cost R166.9-million in total, including VAT and increases, for an 8,479m</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> property. Previously, NSFAS paid R603,000 a month for a Wynberg, Cape Town, building, totalling just over R7-million a year.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-03-nsfas-the-state-bursary-scheme-at-the-root-of-sa-students-outcry-in-2023/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS — the state bursary scheme at the root of SA students’ outcry in 2023</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS is also in the process of terminating arrangements with its </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-08-15-the-nsfas-direct-banking-system-and-why-students-will-march-in-protest-to-parliament/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">direct payment partners</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This caused frustration among students and led to legal action over contracts that were alleged to have been unlawful.</span>\r\n<h4><b>NSFAS board dissolved</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NSFAS board was dissolved on 11 April this year and the scheme was placed under administration the next day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During Monday’s briefing, the minister said a </span><a href=\"https://www.nsfas.org.za/content/downloads/Call%20For%20Nomination%20NSFAS%20Board_240813_085902.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government Gazette</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in August called for nominations for members for the NSFAS board.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are in the process of selecting the best of the best. We want people who are going to bring skills and value and we have upped the bar because the minimum entry is a master’s degree,” said Nkabane.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-10-struggling-nsfas-to-get-a-full-board-by-mid-october-says-minister-nkabane/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Struggling NSFAS to get a full board by mid-October, says Minister Nkabane</span></a>\r\n<h4><b>Opening of applications</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2025 application cycle was initially postponed and will now open on 20 September.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane said she had consulted student formations such as the Economic Freedom Fighter Student Chapter, the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania, the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation, and the MK Party Student Wing. She also consulted the South African Union of Students and the South African Further Education and Training Students’ Association.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The consultations led to the delay in the launch of the 2025 application cycle. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Another reason for postponing the launch of the 2025 NSFAS online application process was to allow NSFAS to do a dry run of the online application system [for] stakeholders. The feedback has already informed critical systems changes to simplify the online application process and also make it accessible to all,” said Nkabane.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-05-28-nsfas-boss-freeman-nomvalo-promises-fresh-processes-and-payment-system-by-september/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS boss Freeman Nomvalo promises fresh processes and payment system by September</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS’s Nomvalo said the organisation was ready for the 2025 applications. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are confident that the system can take an influx and it will be user-friendly… We do verifications with the SA Social Security Agency and Home Affairs,” said Nomvalo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane said she would be in touch with Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube to ensure that the matric results were released on time to allow matriculants to apply for NSFAS funding timeously. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS is spending more than R2-million a month on rent for its upscale Cape Town offices. The higher education and training minister said this was too high, and plans are being made to terminate the lease. The director-general of the Department of Higher Education and Training agrees.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are in plans to terminate the contract that we have with the landlord in our Cape Town offices because it doesn’t make any business sense. The plan is to decentralise … we are going to establish regional offices in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal,” said Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane on Monday, 16 September. </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane was briefing the media on the latest developments on NSFAS and the opening of applications for 2025.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2329841\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1511\"]<a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img_6992-2/\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2329841\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_6992.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1511\" height=\"835\" /></a> <em>National Student Financial Aid Scheme administrator Freeman Nomvalo answers questions at a committee meeting at the Cape Town NSFAS offices on Wednesday, 21 August. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She said the reason for moving to the expensive premises was because of limited space at the former office in Wynberg. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asked for comment, NSFAS referred Daily Maverick to Higher Education and Training Director-General Nkosinathi Sishi, who shared Nkabane’s sentiments. He said they wanted to negotiate an exit from the premises with the landlords. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It is a contractual issue. We want to work with them [the landlords] because there is no dispute between us. It is just about getting our lawyers together to agree on a settlement and once that is done we can move out quickly,” said Sishi. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A date for vacating the premises is yet to be announced.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick previously visited the swish offices with members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education and training, where it was discovered that NSFAS had employed up to 86 people to handle appeals and call centre queries.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick subsequently reported on staff backlogs and call centre issues at these offices.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-22-mps-voice-shock-over-r2m-rent-for-nsfas-swish-c-town-office/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS battles backlogs, staff and tech woes as MPs criticise R2m rent for swish Cape Town offices</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In March 2022, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse revealed that NSFAS had signed a five-year lease with Dynamic SA Holding for office space, beginning on 1 February 2022. The lease, for two years with a possible three-year extension, would cost R166.9-million in total, including VAT and increases, for an 8,479m</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> property. Previously, NSFAS paid R603,000 a month for a Wynberg, Cape Town, building, totalling just over R7-million a year.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-03-nsfas-the-state-bursary-scheme-at-the-root-of-sa-students-outcry-in-2023/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS — the state bursary scheme at the root of SA students’ outcry in 2023</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS is also in the process of terminating arrangements with its </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-08-15-the-nsfas-direct-banking-system-and-why-students-will-march-in-protest-to-parliament/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">direct payment partners</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This caused frustration among students and led to legal action over contracts that were alleged to have been unlawful.</span>\r\n<h4><b>NSFAS board dissolved</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NSFAS board was dissolved on 11 April this year and the scheme was placed under administration the next day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During Monday’s briefing, the minister said a </span><a href=\"https://www.nsfas.org.za/content/downloads/Call%20For%20Nomination%20NSFAS%20Board_240813_085902.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government Gazette</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in August called for nominations for members for the NSFAS board.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are in the process of selecting the best of the best. We want people who are going to bring skills and value and we have upped the bar because the minimum entry is a master’s degree,” said Nkabane.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-10-struggling-nsfas-to-get-a-full-board-by-mid-october-says-minister-nkabane/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Struggling NSFAS to get a full board by mid-October, says Minister Nkabane</span></a>\r\n<h4><b>Opening of applications</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2025 application cycle was initially postponed and will now open on 20 September.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane said she had consulted student formations such as the Economic Freedom Fighter Student Chapter, the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania, the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation, and the MK Party Student Wing. She also consulted the South African Union of Students and the South African Further Education and Training Students’ Association.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The consultations led to the delay in the launch of the 2025 application cycle. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Another reason for postponing the launch of the 2025 NSFAS online application process was to allow NSFAS to do a dry run of the online application system [for] stakeholders. The feedback has already informed critical systems changes to simplify the online application process and also make it accessible to all,” said Nkabane.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-05-28-nsfas-boss-freeman-nomvalo-promises-fresh-processes-and-payment-system-by-september/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS boss Freeman Nomvalo promises fresh processes and payment system by September</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSFAS’s Nomvalo said the organisation was ready for the 2025 applications. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are confident that the system can take an influx and it will be user-friendly… We do verifications with the SA Social Security Agency and Home Affairs,” said Nomvalo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nkabane said she would be in touch with Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube to ensure that the matric results were released on time to allow matriculants to apply for NSFAS funding timeously. </span><b>DM</b>",
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National Student Financial Aid Scheme administrator Freeman Nomvalo answers questions at a committee meeting at the Cape Town NSFAS offices on Wednesday, 21 August. (Photo: Lisakanya Venna)