Who Will Pay For the NSFAF Mess?

“From the acting chief executive officer (CEO) to all those who have run down the institution, they have turned into a cash cow with no sense of responsibility whatsoever,” she said.

Hengari is right. More than that, the issue needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Who is going to pay for the countless blunders by officials entrusted to run NSFAF? Or is it going to be business as usual?

The state-owned NSFAF was entrusted with money to open educational doors for young people from disadvantaged or financially strapped backgrounds.

Not only have NSFAF officials played fast and loose with taxpayers’ money, they have gambled with the future of countless young Namibians.

It is nothing short of morally criminal.

The NSFAF has swung from one controversy to another. Events after it was constituted as a parastatal have had little to do with its mandate, which is to lighten the burden of young Namibians and contribute to a competent skills pool.

Last week, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) blamed the late payment of money by NSFAF on students being in romantic relationships for money.

“Especially our young girls who start looking for ways to survive,” Nudo president Ester Muinjangue said.

To date, parliamentary debates over the future of NSFAF have been largely shallow and missed the mark.

Twelve years ago, then defence minister Charles Namoloh was among parliamentarians who questioned the operations of the state-owned agency created to help poorer students.

“Some of us have young wives who also wish to study but won’t get the bursaries,” he said in parliament at the time.

The debate should ideally focus on fixing core problems and holding accountable those who abused public funds to either enrich themselves or to fight personal power battles.

Where appropriate, the culprits must be punished.

NSFAF has courted controversy for as long as anyone can remember. If it is not the dubious awarding of funding to relatives and family members to study abroad at the expense of more deserving Namibians, it is the late disbursement of funds to students to register for or sit for exams.

The aftermath, of course, was a costly legal battle between former chief executive Hillya Nghiwete and the board, which was judged by the courts to have ousted her illegally.

The board now sits with a massive financial burden. It has to pay the former CEO millions of dollars in settlement for her illegal suspension.

That is on top of the more than N$4 million salary she received from the fund for close to two years while suspended.

Add to that the costs of forensic investigations and the actual court case which could well run into a few more million. Again, who will take responsibility for the squandering of more than N$10 million for this?

New Era reported that the N$300 million NSFAF headquarters in Windhoek has no owners, was built without the finance ministry’s approval, and was set up without passing the City of Windhoek’s stringent vetting requirements.

Who will be held responsible for this?

NSFAF remains relevant to Namibia’s socio-economic development.

While the current focus of debates is largely on overhauling the funding policy, the exercise needs to go deeper – far deeper.

At some point, it should also centre on the outcome the country wants from the education agency. We need to reach a point where the country deliberately sends students abroad for specific specialised courses that will be valuable for Namibia’s developmental goals.

If the speculation about oil or green hydrogen is anything to go by, Namibia will need local talent to negotiate or lead in the public interest. Otherwise, we will be at the mercy of international experts.

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