NSFAS crisis: Manamela flags financial, governance and payment challenges
Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela has put NSFAS’s financial, governance and operational challenges under the spotlight as the scheme transitions from administration to interim arrangements.
The University of Cape Town's Student Representative Council (SRC) plans to take NSFAS to court over the accommodation cap issue, which has left students in debt. On 27 August 2026, students gathered at the scheme's offices and Parliament to present their memorandum of demands. The accommodation cap, set at R55,000, has been criticized as inadequate and has left students unable to afford university.
UCT's SRC Secretary-General, Takalani Makhwathana, announced that they will take the issue to court, despite NSFAS's CFO, Waseem Carrim, accepting the memorandum and promising a response within a week. NSFAS's Deputy Minister, Yusuf Cassim, also accepted the memorandum and assured that students' demands would be forwarded to the Minister of Higher Education.
The EFF's Sihle Lonzi, representing the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, also supported the students' call for scrapping the NSFAS cap.
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