Minister for Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande will launch an investigation into allegations of corruption in the government’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The department has ordered a forensic investigation into the extent of fraud, corruption, maladministration and collusion in the allocation of financial aid by institutions, NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo told News24 last week.

Many students have labelled the application process for government funding at certain universities as “corrupt” and “biased”, based on a survey hosted by News24.

One student even accused officials at the University of Limpopo of choosing candidates on the basis of attractiveness.

“Once again, we can’t control what happens at every university,” Mamabolo said.

“Those employees work for the universities. NSFAS only has one office in Wynberg [Cape Town].

“[But] we had similar problems in the system as well, and the minister [Nzimande] has announced a forensic audit into the allocation of funds.”

The corruption report will sample six institutions, and will investigate how the universities allocated the funds. News24