NSF 2024/25 Annual Report; NSFAS 2023/24 Annual Report; Audit Outcomes

Video Annual Reports 2024/25 The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education met to receive a briefing from the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on recent audit outcomes and to consider the annual reports of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for 2024/25 and the National Skills Fund (NSF) for 2023/24. AGSA reported an adverse audit opinion for NSFAS and a qualified opinion for the NSF. In both cases, the audit findings pointed to serious weaknesses in financial management, performance reporting and regulatory compliance. These deficiencies were attributed to prolonged leadership instability, reliance on outdated and largely manual systems, and weak internal controls. Committee Members expressed deep concern about the ongoing governance and operational failures at both entities. Discussion centred on the NSF’s inconsistent explanations for its failure to fill critical vacancies, its continued underspending despite a clear skills development mandate, and the lack of effective consequence management for officials linked to poor audit outcomes and irregular expenditure. Members also raised serious allegations of conflicts of interest within the NSF and criticised the absence of the accounting authority and the responsible Minister from the meeting, which limited the Committee’s ability to enforce direct accountability. The NSF’s failure to conduct a tracer study for the past two years was highlighted as a significant shortcoming, leaving it unable to demonstrate the employment impact of its funded programmes. NSFAS presented a turnaround plan aimed at stabilising leadership, implementing a new loan management system and ensuring the timely closure of projects. The NSF reported that it had introduced a new digital system to address reporting weaknesses and was pursuing consequence management through external investigations. Officials from both entities acknowledged that previous reporting on recovery efforts had been overstated and that progress to date