Labour Court throws out Nongogo’s bid
The Labour Court has dismissed the application by former National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) CEO Andile Nongogo, pictured, to have his sacking declared unlawful and void.
In October, the Nsfas board terminated Nongogo’s contract after investigating allegations related to the appointment of direct payment service providers.
This decision came after Nongogo was placed on special leave in August amid controversies surrounding the scheme’s direct payment contract.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) had published a report highlighting the “questionable” awarding of the Nsfas direct payment contract.
The report implicated Nongogo in a potential conflict of interest regarding the service providers’ appointments.
After numerous calls for his suspension until investigations into the allegations were completed, Nsfas placed Nongogo on special leave as it launched its own investigation.
A report by Werksmans Attorneys and advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi flagged a potential conflict of interest in the appointment of fintech service providers.
Another concern raised in the report was the failure to conduct thorough due diligence on the service providers.
In light of these findings, Nsfas board chair Ernest Khosa announced that the board had written a letter to Nongogo, granting him an opportunity to explain why his contract shouldn’t be terminated.
Nongogo’s challenge to his contract’s termination hit a snag on Monday when the Labour Court ruled in favour of the Nsfas board.
Judge MB Mahalelo also dismissed with costs Nongogo’s application to strike out certain paragraphs contained in the Werksmans Attorney’s report.
Nsfas said: “The Nsfas board views the Werksmans Attorneys report as a necessary and important measure to propel Nsfas to a much more elevated level of consciousness to fight corruption and the capture of Nsfas by some unscrupulous people.”
Nsfas said it would continue with its legal processes to terminate contracts of direct payment service providers.