Cape Town – Parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education, science and technology has taken a unanimous decision to conduct an inquiry into the administration and management of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
This after they were informed by employees who appeared before it that NSFAS administrator Randall Carolissen allegedly facilitated the employment of his friends and acquaintances at the entity without following due process.
Committee chairperson Philly Mapulane said they were shocked by what appeared to be a disregard for recruitment policies and procedures guiding the recruitment of staff at the entity.
The committee held a follow-up meeting with Carolissen on Friday regarding allegations of maladministration and corruption that were made to it by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), and received testimonies under oath from senior employees of NSFAS.
After the meeting, Mapulane alleged the administrator admitted he did pass on the curricula vitae (CVs) of some of the implicated persons – who were later appointed – to human resources, but denied he was responsible for their appointment.
“Of the long list of irregular appointments, nine of the people alleged to have been appointed irregularly were the administrator’s former schoolmate, former university mate, a friend of the administrator’s brother, the daughter of the administrator’s friend, a friend of the wife of the administrator, and a nephew of the administrator’s friend,” said Mapulane.
Carolissen said the first set of people hired at the NSFAS at the start of his administration were hired with the concurrence of the minister, “because part of the contract was that I could bring on board advisers to assist me to fix the organisation”.
“The people that I identified were indeed the people that I knew, but (it) was done with full transparency and with the acknowledgement of the minister (Naledi Pandor, former minister of higher education and training), and I didn’t know all of them,” Carolissen said.
Mapulane said: “We do take note of the denial by the administrator, that he was not personally involved in the appointment of some of his acquaintances and friends.
"However, when you pass on a CV as the administrator to your subordinate, the subliminal message to the person receiving the CV is that you must appoint this person.”
Nehawu general secretary said the union was an advocate of clean governance and good and sound management.
Cape Argus