Higher education minister Buti Manamela is assessing whether the board of South Africa’s key student financial assistance body can discharge its duties effectively after its interim chair stepped down and another board member resigned.
Their departures leave just seven people remaining on the board, which should have 18 members.
The present board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was set in place by Manamela’s predecessor, Nobuhle Nkabane, who announced the appointment of a chair and 11 members for a four-year term in February 2025. Two representatives from student organisations were subsequently appointed. Chair Karen Stander resigned in November 2025, citing a toxic working environment.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, the higher education & training department announced that NSFAS interim chair Mugwena Maluleke, who was previously an ordinary board member, had resigned after barely five months in the role due to personal and academic commitments. Board member Karabo Mohale had also resigned, it said, without providing reasons for her departure.
“The cumulative effect of these and other resignations has significantly reduced the number of remaining voting members of the board, raising serious concerns regarding the board’s ability to continue to constitute itself lawfully and discharge its statutory and fiduciary responsibilities,” the department said, without detailing which other board members had resigned.
Business Day has established that there are only seven remaining board members. Among the people who resigned before the latest developments are Philisiwe Sibiya, Clarinda Simpson and Prashika Mahesh, the only board members who held accounting qualifications, raising questions about the board’s capacity to sign off on financial statements.
In terms of Section 5(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the NSFAS Act, the board should comprise 18 members ― 13 appointed by the minister, including the chair; four co-opted by the board; and the CEO.
“In light of these developments, the minister is currently assessing the legal and governance implications, including whether the board remains capable of effectively exercising its oversight and decision-making functions in terms of the applicable legislative framework,” the department said.
The minister is engaging with the remaining board members, giving them “an opportunity to make representations on the current governance position and on any lawful and practical alternatives available to ensure institutional stability”, it said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Manamela higher education and training minister in July 2025 after firing Nkabane for her handling of board appointments of Sector Education and Training Authorities.
In November Manamela instituted a high court review of the NSFAS board appointed by Nkabane, saying at the time that it was intended to regularise procedural shortcomings. That process has yet to conclude.
The DA’s spokesperson on higher education and training, Delmaine Christians, said the NSFAS board had effectively collapsed. “It reflects a full-scale breakdown of governance at one of the most important institutions in the country’s higher education system,” she said.
“While governance collapses at the top, it is students who bear the consequences — forced into unsafe or unaccredited accommodation, left without food and transport allowances, and facing uncertainty at the start of each academic year,” she said.
Christians said the DA would request an urgent briefing to parliament, with clear timelines on the reconstitution of the NSFAS board.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said it was concerned about the continued lack of stability at the helm of NSFAS, which told parliament in February that it provides financial support to more than 1.2-million students.
Besides the board turmoil, NSFAS has had an acting CEO for over a year, said Outa senior project manager Rudie Heyneke. “We need a (stable) board and executive that can really drive this ship,” he said.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union urged Manamela to stabilise the NSFAS, which it said has lurched from one crisis to another and worsened the problems confronting students, ranging from academic and financial exclusion to a lack of student accommodation.
“The scheme (is) a critical component in ... transforming the higher education sector. (It is) a critical instrument in the realisation of providing access to free quality education for poor and working-class students,” the union said in a statement.
Update: April 29 2026
This story contains additional information about the NSFAS board and comment from the DA.
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