Group says it has found corruption at financial aid body

The Citizen 21 September 2022

South African civil society group the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) announced it has uncovered “multimillion-rand tender corruption” at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and has handed over all information to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), reports Faizel Patel for The Citizen.

OUTA said its revelations follow an investigation into corruption and irregular contracts at the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA) after a successful Promotion of Access to Information application relating to a ZAR170 million (US$9.6 million) tender for a biometric attendance monitoring system awarded to the Grayson Reed consortium.

Rudie Heyneke, project manager at OUTA, said the investigation report into the Grayson Reed/SSETA tender will provide the SIU with the necessary background regarding the involvement of certain individuals who are now doing business with NSFAS. He said if the possible irregularities OUTA uncovered at NSFAS are not investigated, it can cost the taxpayer up to ZAR1 billion per annum if allowed to continue. “That is enough money to pay the tuition fees of 20,000 students per year.”
Full report on The Citizen site

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