DURBAN - Some tertiary students are having a tough time in trying to manoeuvre around the recently launched National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowance payment.
Previously, students would receive their monthly allowance from their institution. However, NSFAS has now introduced a bank card, which students would be expected to use for their transactions.
This has since become an issue for some who are finding it difficult to register through one of the four distribution partners; that being Norraco, Coinvest Africa, eZaga and Tenet Technologies.
Sanele Khumalo, DUT Student Representative Council President of the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC), said they were worried about the new system as some students did not receive their allowances, while others received insufficient funds for this month.
“There is something fishy about this whole process and you can tell by how they introduced this new payment system to us. We were not given enough information and we were not taught in advance on how to use it so we can avoid challenges.
“This is complicated and very difficult to use for our students, and what we do not like is that they charge R1 for every student when registering to the system, which we think is one of the ways of taking money from us.
“If this matter is not resolved soon, we plan to take legal action against the NSFAS and their distributing company eZaga which is one of the platforms that is mostly giving our students issues,” said Khumalo.
Nokuthula Ndlovu, 20, a student from Umzinto, on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, said she had an issue when registering on the system. She said the system had incorrectly captured her information and confused it with that of her sister who was studying at Coastal College.
“As a result, I could not get my allowance for this month because I could not change the information on the system. This has made things difficult for me as I could not buy groceries,” said Ndlovu, a final year student in Human Resources.
Zinhle Mdletshe, 23, a final year Bachelor of Arts and Cultural Heritage Tourism student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said when NSFAS introduced the new payment system, they were not notified that they were going to get charged for every transaction they make.
“I am also part of those students who have not received their allowances for this month. I had not received the NSFAS bank card. I registered in the system for the cardless banking service through Tenet Technologies. I encountered an issue when I got to the ATM, as the system would show that the money has been withdrawn from my account.
“I tried reaching out to Tenet Technologies through the contact numbers given to us, only for them to say they had nothing to do with NSFAS which left me confused,” said Mdletshe.
Former UKZN Howard College chairperson, Gift Phewa, who is involved in assisting students resolve their day-to-day issues, said the problem was that it was difficult to contact the service providers contracted to NSFAS.
“That has resulted in several problems. Some students were short paid, some over paid and some were not paid at all. We urge NSFAS to go back to the initial way they used to issue payment to avoid unnecessary frustration among students,” said Phewa.
NSFAS spokesperson Slumezi Skosana was contacted several times but refrained from answering the calls to comment on this matter.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE