{
  "id": 9599044,
  "title": "Deputy Minister Cassim vows to fix NSFAS failures",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/deputy-minister-cassim-vows-to-fix-nsfas-failures",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-24T17:37:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "SABC News",
    "slug": "sabc-news",
    "url": "https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/deputy-minister-cassim-vows-to-fix-nsfas-failures/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim has promised to rectify the issues plaguing the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and its impact on students. This pledge came after his visit to Nelson Mandela University, where he discovered that over 350 students enrolled in extended programs had been denied financial aid due to incorrect qualification codes. The disruption of his planned speech by students at Nelson Mandela University was deemed unfortunate and unjust to those genuinely seeking assistance, according to Cassim.\n\nOn the positive side, NSFAS asserted that it had reinstated the financial support for the 357 students adversely affected. Deputy Minister Cassim emphasized that students should not suffer from their academic progress or success because of administrative and bureaucratic errors within NSFAS. He explained that several students were incorrectly defunded because of improper qualification codes uploaded by various institutions, and he collaborated with NSFAS to restore their funding. Many of these students experienced frozen allowances and other funding elements for up to five months.\n\nCassim states that the matter is now at a stage where he aims to prevent students from being disadvantaged by the academic progression criteria to maintain their funding for the upcoming academic year.",
  "summary": "Yusuf Cassim says he wants to fight for students after 357 were defunded due to incorrect codes",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}