The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is trying to recover R5.1 billion from thousands of students who did not qualify for the National Students Financial Aid Scheme.
The SIU said there were more than 40 000 students who did not qualify for NSFAS between 2017 and now, but were given funding.
The investigation has stretched to 76 institutions across the country.
Head of the SIU advocate Andy Mothibi told members of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday that they would leave no stone unturned in the investigations.
He said their work was to ensure that institutions received back what was due to them.
SIU chief national investigations officer Leonard Lekgetho said in Gauteng there were 17 000 students who did not qualify for NSFAS and received R1.9 billion.
Gauteng was followed by the Western Cape where there were more than 5 400 students under investigation with R787m that was given to them.
In KwaZulu-Natal there were 4 400 students and they were given R609m.
Lekgetho said in the Free State there were more than 2 600 students under investigation and the amount involved was R399m.
In the North West there were 2 500 students the SIU was investigating and they received R361m.
Lekgetho said they were also investigating 2 200 students in Limpopo and they had been given R282m.
He said in Mpumalanga there 666 students and the amount involved is R55m and in the Northern Cape they were investigating 304 students who were given R22m.
Lekgetho said their probe has uncovered anomalies in the payments to some of the students. One of the issues they identified was that some of the students had dropped out of university but NSFAS continued to pay.
“We discovered that some of the students did not proceed to study or went to study at other institutions but NSFAS continued to pay the money.
“Currently, we are looking at each and every student from the beginning until they left the institution, to identify whether the number of years they studied and the amount that was paid over the years and whether that student at that particular institution and thereafter we are able to reconcile and indicate to the institution to say the student did not continue with the studies and the amount that was paid from this period to date needs to be paid back to NSFAS,” said NSFAS.
Mothibi said they have every intention to ensure the recovery of the funds that were irregularly paid.
The SIU will be painstakingly going through with this probe until it has been resolved.
They wanted to work with every university or institution of higher learning that is affected.
In total they were investigating these cases in 76 institutions.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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