Nelson Mandela Bay students are caught in the crossfire of a broken system.
Hundreds, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, are facing eviction from their homes away from home.
This is not of their making, but is due to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) having failed to sort out their landlords’ payments.
With Thursday’s deadline missed, only a fraction of the promised payments have been paid to the landlords.
Landlords have warned of student evictions over nonpayment of rent after being left with mounting bills for services such as cleaning and Wi-Fi access.
Some have had to suspend services, while others are now being pushed towards the extreme step of having to evict students.
The students — the people NSFAS was designed to empower — will suffer the most.
Despite promises made in meetings and even a public statement urging landlords not to evict students, the scheme has failed to honour its word.
No concrete reason has been given for the delay in payments.
The silence is deafening.
The affected accommodation providers are directly registered with the NSFAS through a student housing platform.
Profecia IT, which manages the Eastern Cape, does the payments.
The systemic overhaul of accommodation through a centralised housing platform was meant to streamline processes, not cripple them.
Students such as those from NMU, Fort Hare, and Eastern Cape Midlands College are now pawns in a poorly managed transition.
Landlord Zuko Sam, who rents to seven students, said evictions were a last resort for frustrated owners who had exhausted all options, such as limiting services at their properties.
“I am advocating for evictions because we are left with no option but to frustrate them.
“They do not listen to us and seeing that they keep reiterating that their main stakeholder is the students, we have to remove them.”
Higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane must intervene.
The solution lies not in evictions, but in accountability.
The NSFAS leadership must provide transparency about the delays and present a realistic, enforceable payment timeline.
Every day without payment is another day of uncertainty for the students and landlords.
The Herald
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