The National Student Financial Aid Scheme was officially established in 1991 as a South African government initiative. The aim of NSFAS is to provide financial assistance and loans to financial-disadvantaged students in order to enable them to access higher education and pursue their studies without undue economic burdens.
In recent events where Ramaphosa gave a speech in Mbombela, he emphasised the potential consequences, stating that if ANC fails to secure the majority of votes this year, NSFAS and other social grants could be eliminated.
This left a lot of South Africans students wavering with fear for the future of their studies. One of the most asked question is, is this a political strategy to win people over so ANC could win more votes for this year national election year?
The answer to this question can be filtered in many ways but as much as ANC came up with this initiative to help unprivileged students of South Africa with financial means, it does not necessarily mean that the National Student Financially Aid Scheme belongs to the ANC.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme does not belong to ANY political party for that matter.
NSFAS is a government organization and falls under the authority of the Department of Higher Education. While the ANC provides policy direction and funding for initiatives like NSFAS, it operates independently as a government-sponsored program aimed at expanding access to higher education for economically disadvantaged students.
NSFAS will continue to fund students across the whole country who are in need of financial relieve. That’s goes for all other social grants, whether the ANC is in power or not. The government will still do its responsibility for the country.
