MPs laugh off bungle excuse

MPs have rejected assertions by Walter Sisulu University, service provider Intellimalli and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) that there was foul play in the erroneous payment of R14-million into a student’s account.

The lawmakers from across the political divide pointed their guns at the three entities, with some telling Intellimali that they were too quick to lay criminal charges against student Sibongile Mani, while the role of their employees in the matter had not been investigated.

MPs also called on the Department of Higher Education to consider a review of the system used by the NSFAS and universities to pay living allowances to students, saying there was no need for middlemen to be involved in the distribution of billions of rands.

Mani grabbed headlines earlier this month when she went on a huge spending spree amounting to more than R800 000 after R14million was deposited into her account instead of her monthly allowance of R1 400.

The leadership of the WSU, Intellimalli and NSFAS appeared before the higher education portfolio committee to account for the bungle.

The MPs slammed Intellimali for failing to swiftly stop Mani’s spending spree even though they could track her transactions, including one in which she spent about R20 000 in less than 30 minutes at an East London supermarket just days after the money was deposited into her account.

Intellimali’s Micheal Ansell said they were conducting an internal review of their systems but no staff member was a suspect at this stage.