This after students mainly studying at the Central University of Technology (CUT) accused the Premier's Office of delaying to release funds towards their studies and in essence, this forced some students to drop out, or squat with friends, amongst others.

However, the premier’s spokesperson, Sello Pietersen, responding to the allegations, tells OFM News the Premier’s Office has made contact with the Vice-Chancellor to ensure that relevant documents of affected beneficiaries are processed for payments.

A student, who opted to remain anonymous, says she and over 20 other students at the CUT have been gravely affected by the payment delay. The student says officials at the Office of the Premier have been giving them a run around since the commencement of the academic year in February/March 2021, and to date, some students are yet to receive these funds and now finds themselves in serious debt with the CUT.

“On the CUT matter, though we had delays [with] invoices from the institution, we made contact with the Vice-Chancellor, who made an undertaking to ensure we get the documents, enabling us to process payments. Where we have received documents to pay, we didn’t process payments for most students as they were found to have received funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Pietersen has issued a stern warning to students who duplicated their funding application to both the premier’s office and the student aid scheme, and said they, unfortunately, do not process funds for any student who got funding from another funding institution/company as this will be double-dipping.

“With regard to the North-West University, we have 36 students there, we have processed payments for 32 of them and as soon as we find all relevant documentation, we will immediately pay for the remaining 4. We are working around the clock to ensure that all our students are well taken care of in all aspects in accordance with the conditions of the bursary,” Pietersen adds.

OFM News