7-year degrees and foreign national beneficiaries: SIU uncovers rot in Free State premier bursaries

Leonard Lekgetho, Acting Head Of the SIU, briefs media on investigation outcomes into the Free State office of the Premier’s awarding of bursaries. Picture: SIU/X On Tuesday, the acting head of the SIU, Leonard Lekgetho, provided an update on the investigation outcomes into the bursary funds in the premier’s office from 2017 to 2018. Every year, the provincial government allocates funds through bursaries to support needy students in accessing higher education and to address the shortage of scarce skills in the province.

However, officials awarded them to their relatives, the deceased and foreign nationals, as well as to ineligible officials, and left millions in university accounts unaccounted for, the SIU said. The investigation was initiated following a referral from the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) concerning irregularities. The AGSA’s reports from 2019 and 2020 revealed serious irregularities in the management of bursaries and funds.

According to the SIU, officials approved bursaries negligently, failed to comply with the eligibility criteria, and irregularly extended bursary contracts. In one case, an official awarded bursaries to relatives without following due process. In another case, an official did not submit a bursary application for his studies, which commenced in 2017, but ended up receiving funding.

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When he applied for the bursary in 2017 for the 2018 academic year, he did not meet the requirements. There is also an official who applied for an international government-funded bursary. The official received the benefits while in office and continued to receive them after resigning.

Some of the students who were awarded bursaries failed some modules during their studies. However, the bursary contracts were never terminated by the OTP; instead, they transitioned from three-year to seven-year contracts. In some cases, the OTP awarded bursaries to applicants for qualifications not included in the 2018-19 Provincial Workplace Skills Plan.

The required processes were not followed before the approval of the bursaries. In one case, a deceased student received bursaries from both the OTP and theNational Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas). In this case, Lekgetho explained that the student passed away before completing his studies, but payments into his account continued.

The OTP paid R34 891.60 to theUniversity of the Free State, which deposited the money into a suspense account after the student’s death. Nsfas also paid R13 000 into the student’s bank account, which his parents used.

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