ActionSA Protests Ongoing Higher Education Crisis and Voices Concern Over Prof. van Staden’s Appointment as Acting NSFAS Board Chairperson

Yesterday, ActionSA staged a picket outside the Media Briefing of the Department of Higher Education and Technology (DHET), highlighting the frustrations of hundreds of thousands of students across South Africa. Minister Nzimande, seemingly detached from reality, thought it appropriate to hold a briefing on the 2024 academic year’s readiness, while a laundry list of issues predating the year’s commencement goes unaddressed.

Joined by our activists and councillors across Gauteng, ActionSA repeated our demand for the immediate resignation of Minister Blade Nzimande and the entire NSFAS Board. There is little doubt that they bear the ultimate responsibility for this manufactured crisis, which has left countless NSFAS-funded students in peril.

With an ever-growing set of challenges facing the sector, ActionSA believes that the ongoing crisis can be solely attributed to the disastrous 13-year tenure of the faux communist Blade Nzimande at DHET. He has single-handedly, with the endorsement of the corrupt ruling party, presided over the abdication of the Department’s responsibility to meet the needs of South African students.

Furthermore, ActionSA expresses concern over the appointment of Prof. Lourens van Staden as the Acting NSFAS Board Chairperson. Reports suggest that during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor of Tshwane University of Technology, Prof. van Staden featured in allegations of financial mismanagement, and therefore, if true, ActionSA believes him to be unfit to lead the Scheme.

In light of the potential ethical concerns associated with his appointment and the ongoing corruption crisis at NSFAS, ActionSA cannot endorse Prof. Lourens van Staden’s appointment.

ActionSA is committed to eliminating the rot within the DHET and ensuring that our Institutions of Higher Learning and students no longer bear the costs of mismanagement and corruption under the ANC Government.

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