An investigation by The New Age has revealed that some financial aid recipients have set up shop outside bookstores to “sell” textbook allowances they received as part of their NSFAS aid packages. Outside the entrance of a prominent bookshop on Church Street in the Pretoria CBD, The New Age found groups of about five students trying to broker deals from those entering the bookstore buying books at retail prices. In terms of the scam, the book touts intercept students outside the store, offering to use their NSFAS Fundi cards to purchase the books.
Once there is agreement the tout then enters the store and purchases the book with their card at a normal price.
They then resell the book to their client at a discount which is pocketed. According to a security guard at the store, the students have turned their allowance cards into “spaza shopping vouchers”.
“There are always students touting outside as soon as the bookshop opens until we close. They take shifts. As soon as they have made their profit, they move along for others to do it.” The guard said he suspected they did this at more than one store a day as they are only permitted to make one transaction a day at the bookshop using their NSFAS issued card. NSFAS loads money for books and food onto the cards for students to use at approved merchants. Students also get R250 loaded into their bank accounts for travelling. A Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) student who had been camping outside Van Schaik said she had “a lot of money” on her card that she did not need for textbooks and she would rather have cash in hand.
When The New Age visited the bookstore, the 21-year-old student had been waiting outside since it opened at 8am, desperate to get someone who wanted to buy books using cash. Around 9am, the young “textbookpreneur” and three others had left their business spot for four others to take over. Among those on the second shift was a girl who wanted a sale not less than R400 for the day. Pouncing on anyone who approached the door at the store, the TUT student turned away a number of potential customers who did not meet the criteria. The New Age undercover team managed to buy an Oxford school dictionary almost R50 cheaper from a student who claimed he “desperately needed money to go home as there had been an emergency”.
He told this reporter to wait at a distance so he could make the purchase without being suspected of any wrongdoing and came back to collect his money with the brand new dictionary in hand. These revelations emerge against the background of more than two years of student protests, quite often violent, for free university education. The #FeesMustFall protests gained national prominence and resulted in the government appointing a fees commission to explore the feasibility of free education.
NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo said they had since blocked and suspended accounts of those found guilty of offering to buy books using Fundi cards and selling them at reduced prices to those with cash. “Initially NSFAS sent warning SMSs to students who were found selling or exchanging their allowances but as this activity increase, it is evident that the SMS warning is no longer useful and NSFAS is now sending a stronger message to students not to misuse the allowances provided to them for academic support,” he said.
Mamabolo urged those who witnessed fraudulent activity to report it through its Vuvuzela Hotline. South African Union of Students spokesperson Sthembiso Ndlovu said while it condemned the students’ behaviour, that they were faced with dire circumstances at university could not be ignored. He said TUT students had it tough SHADY PRACTICE: NSFAS beneficiaries broker a deal for cheaper textbooks outside a prominent bookshop in Pretoria. PICTURE: SHONISANI TSHIKALANGE ‘Poor’ students scam NSFAS as they were given a cash allowance of R250 a month meant for travelling expenses and rent. “R250 does not even cover rent in Soshanguve. It is not enough. It can never be sufficient,” Ndlovu said. Ministry of Higher Education spokesperson Madikwe Mabotha deplored the misuse of financial aid and encouraged NSFAS to take a tough stand against those misdirecting their education grants.
