03/07/2026
*A NATIONAL CALL FOR URGENT INTERVENTION INTO THE STUDENT CRISIS AT LOVEDALE TVET COLLEGE*
DATE: 03 JULY 2026
TIME: 08:00
ADDRESSED TO:
The Honourable Minister of Higher Education and Training;
The Honourable Deputy Ministers of Higher Education and Training
The Director-General: Department of Higher Education and Training
Portfolio Committee on Higher Education & Training
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)
Services SETA
uMalusi
Members of Parliament
Provincial and Regional Offices of Department of Higher Education and Training
TVET College Principals and Management
Student Representative Councils and Student Organisations across South Africa
Public Servants
Patriots of South Africa
TVET Activists
Lovedale TVET College Alumni
Civil Society Organisations
Organised Labour
Religious and Traditional Leaders
Print, Radio, Television and Digital Media Houses
Journalists
Public Influencers and Content Creators
The People of South Africa
SUBJECT:
*Urgent National Intervention into the NSFAS Funding Crisis, Outstanding Student Results and Services SETA Implementation Challenges Affecting Students at Lovedale TVET College*
PURPOSE OF THIS MEMORANDUM:
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) and the Economic Freedom Fighters Youth Command (EFFYC) at Lovedale TVET College hereby issue this public memorandum to draw national attention to the serious challenges confronting students at Lovedale TVET College.
This memorandum is issued after months of engagements with College Management and various stakeholders regarding matters that continue to negatively affect the academic progress, financial stability and wellbeing of students.
Despite these engagements, hundreds of students remain without funding, many continue waiting for outstanding examination results and beneficiaries of Services SETA programmes remain without allowances and learning resources that were promised to them.
The purpose of this memorandum is therefore to call upon all relevant authorities, public representatives, media houses and South Africans to support urgent intervention into these matters before more students suffer irreparable prejudice.
*1. NSFAS FUNDING CRISIS*
The NSFAS funding crisis currently affecting students at Lovedale TVET College has reached a level that requires urgent national intervention.
At the beginning of the 2026 academic year, students who had been verified by the Lovedale TVET College Financial Aid Office and approved by NSFAS received their February allowances without any difficulty.
On 25 March 2026, these same students expected to receive their next monthly allowances, as had become the normal practice.
Instead, more than ninety students received neither payment notifications nor allowance deposits into their bank accounts.
Student leadership initially appealed for patience and advised students not to panic, believing that the matter was simply an administrative delay that would soon be corrected.
However, days passed without payments being made.
Days became weeks.
Throughout this period, affected students received no communication from NSFAS explaining why their allowances had not been paid.
Following enquiries by student leadership, NSFAS eventually categorised these same students under what it referred to as “Gap Investigation.”
To date, no proper policy explanation has been provided regarding what “Gap Investigation” means, the legislative or policy basis upon which it has been implemented, or why students who had already been approved and funded suddenly found themselves subjected to this process.
This has left students uncertain about their funding status and without any meaningful opportunity to understand or challenge the decisions taken against them.
The consequences have been devastating.
Many students rely entirely on NSFAS allowances to pay for accommodation, food, transport and other essential living expenses.
Without these allowances, students immediately found themselves unable to meet their financial obligations.
What makes this matter particularly disturbing is that affected students were never formally informed by NSFAS that their funding had been withdrawn.
Instead, landlords of NSFAS-accredited student accommodation received communication from NSFAS and Profecia indicating that the affected students would no longer be funded and that processes should begin to remove them from accommodation.
As a consequence, back in March till date students have been evicted from their residences and left without alternative accommodation or financial support.
We regard this manner of communication as deeply insensitive and inconsistent with the principles of fairness and administrative justice expected of public institutions.
The leadership of Lovedale TVET College, including the Acting Principal, formally wrote to the Chief Executive Officer of NSFAS seeking urgent intervention and clarity regarding the de-funding of these students.
Although responses were received from NSFAS, student leadership remains concerned that the reasons advanced fail to justify the withdrawal of funding from students who had already been verified, approved and funded.
Before registration data is submitted to NSFAS, students undergo verification processes conducted by the College Financial Aid Office to determine whether they qualify for funding.
NSFAS itself also possesses its own systems for assessing and confirming funding eligibility before approving students as funded beneficiaries.
The College has maintained that these students qualify for funding.
It therefore raises serious concerns when students who have already been declared eligible by both the institution and NSFAS are subsequently defunded while actively pursuing their studies.
Government institutions cannot arbitrarily alter funding implementation processes or introduce new administrative mechanisms without transparent communication, stakeholder consultation and lawful administrative procedures.
Doing so creates uncertainty and undermines confidence in the national student funding system.
The funding crisis has continued to expand beyond the students placed under “Gap Investigation.”
Students who successfully passed supplementary examinations have now waited for more than two months for NSFAS to reopen its portal to enable the College to upload their academic results.
Despite qualifying academically for funding:
the NSFAS portal remains closed;
the College cannot upload their results; and
these students continue without financial support.
These students continue suffering through absolutely no fault of their own.
On 25 June 2026, another category of students was affected when all N+1 students who had consistently received NSFAS allowances from February until May were suddenly defunded.
Like every other funded student, they expected to receive their June allowances.
Instead, they discovered that their funding had been terminated.
No adequate explanation has been provided.
No formal communication has been issued.
No provision within existing NSFAS policy has been identified to justify these decisions.
Student leadership has further engaged with student leaders from other TVET Colleges across South Africa.
Through these engagements, we have established that the challenges experienced at Lovedale TVET College are not isolated incidents.
Student leaders from several other TVET Colleges have raised similar concerns regarding unexplained de-funding, prolonged funding reviews, delayed allowance payments, the continued closure of the NSFAS portal affecting supplementary examination students and inadequate communication from NSFAS.
This demonstrates that the current crisis extends beyond Lovedale TVET College and has become a matter of national concern affecting students across the TVET sector.
The recent developments surrounding resignations within the NSFAS Board, together with allegations concerning the mismanagement of student funds, have further deepened student concerns regarding the administration of NSFAS nationally.
*2. OUTSTANDING AND NULLIFIED STUDENT RESULTS*
Student leadership further seeks urgent intervention regarding the continued withholding and nullification of examination results affecting students at Lovedale TVET College.
*Applied Engineering Technology (AET) Level 4:*
The matter originates from the October 2025 moderation process conducted by uMalusi.
During moderation, the marking of the Integrated Summative Assessment Task (ISAT) had not yet been completed because consumables required for the practical assessment had been delayed during the Supply Chain Management procurement process.
As a result, moderators could not immediately verify and validate the ISAT process.
The College was instructed to courier the Portfolios of Evidence for further verification and validation.
The College complied with this instruction and submitted the requested documentation.
The portfolios were subsequently returned without any accompanying feedback indicating that additional evidence would later be required.
When the November 2025 examination results were released, the Applied Engineering Technology Level 4 results remained withheld.
On 12 January 2026, the College received formal correspondence indicating that the subject had been blocked pending further verification by DHET and uMalusi.
The College was instructed to submit Lecturer Subject Files, Lecturer Assessment Files, Marked Scripts and official DHET Mark Sheets.
The institution complied fully and submitted the requested evidence on 30 January 2026.
Despite complying with every written instruction issued by DHET, the results remained withheld, including during the March 2026 mop-up release.
On 30 April 2026, DHET informed the College that uMalusi had nullified the results on the basis that students had allegedly not been afforded an opportunity to redo the ISAT and because no video evidence validating the assessment process had been submitted.
However, the written communication issued on 12 January 2026 never requested video evidence.
The College subsequently engaged DHET and explained that had video evidence been requested in writing, it would have complied.
During subsequent engagements, DHET officials indicated that the requirement for video evidence had allegedly been communicated during a workshop held during April 2025 for Deputy Principals: Academic Services.
During that period, however, the Deputy Principal: Academic Services at Lovedale TVET College had been placed on special leave and was subsequently suspended before only returning during October 2025.
It therefore remains unclear whether the College was represented during that workshop and whether such critical information was ever communicated to campuses and lecturers.
Students should never suffer because of communication failures, administrative inconsistencies or procedural shortcomings entirely beyond their control.
These students have now spent months uncertain about their academic progression, employment prospects and NSFAS eligibility.
*Plant Production NCV Level 4:*
Student leadership further raises the continued withholding of Plant Production NCV Level 4 results.
On 6 May 2026, the College met with DHET officials Mr Tleru and Mr Makgelemele.
During that meeting, DHET acknowledged that the withholding of these results had occurred mistakenly.
DHET further confirmed that it had already written to uMalusi requesting the release of the results.
Despite this acknowledgement, the results remain outstanding.
Students remain uncertain whether they have passed, whether they qualify to progress academically and whether they qualify for continued NSFAS funding.
The continued withholding of these results has therefore compounded the NSFAS funding crisis because students whose academic records remain incomplete cannot properly be assessed for funding eligibility.
*3. SERVICES SETA BURSARY IMPLEMENTATION CRISIS*
We further wish to draw urgent attention to serious concerns regarding the implementation of the Services SETA Bursary Programme at Lovedale TVET College.
A total of 467 students were approved as beneficiaries of the Services SETA bursary programme. These students formally signed bursary agreements, thereby entering into legally binding agreements that clearly set out the benefits each beneficiary is entitled to receive under the programme.
The bursary agreement serves as the official document governing the rights and obligations of both the bursar and the beneficiaries. Students accepted the bursary and its conditions based on the terms expressly contained in that agreement.
However, student leadership has since become aware that Services SETA has verbally communicated to the College that certain students should receive only some of the benefits contained in the bursary agreement while being denied other benefits that they are contractually entitled to receive.
This instruction is deeply concerning because it directly contradicts the very bursary agreement that Services SETA drafted and required students to sign.
At no stage were students informed, either before or during the signing of the bursary agreements, that certain benefits would be withheld from particular beneficiaries. Furthermore, the bursary agreement contains no clauses authorising Services SETA to selectively withdraw or limit benefits after the agreement has been concluded.
Instead, Services SETA now appears to be introducing new conditions through verbal communication, despite those conditions not forming part of the written agreement signed by both parties.
This approach undermines the integrity of the bursary agreement and creates uncertainty among beneficiaries who accepted the bursary on the legitimate expectation that all benefits contained in the signed agreement would be honoured.
Public institutions cannot unilaterally amend or vary the terms of a written agreement through verbal instructions after beneficiaries have already accepted and signed that agreement. If Services SETA intended to limit or differentiate benefits between categories of students, such conditions ought to have been clearly stipulated in the bursary agreement before students appended their signatures.
The rule of law and the principles of administrative fairness require that public institutions honour the agreements they conclude with beneficiaries. Any deviation from those agreements must be lawful, transparent and formally communicated through the appropriate contractual and administrative processes.
*OUR APPEAL:*
We call upon the Ministry of Higher Education and Training, Parliament, Portfolio Committee on DHET , NSFAS, Services SETA, uMalusi, oversight institutions, public servants, patriots, TVET activists, Lovedale alumni, media houses, journalists, public influencers and every South African committed to justice to intervene urgently.
These challenges are no longer isolated administrative matters.
They have become matters affecting the constitutional right to education, the dignity of students and the integrity of South Africa’s post-school education system.
We further call upon the media to assist in ensuring that these matters receive the national attention they deserve so that the voices of affected students are heard and meaningful interventions are implemented without further delay.
Students should never be denied education because of administrative failures beyond their control.
In Unity,
Issued jointly by:
*Economic Freedom Fighters Youth Command:*
Asimamele Mtyhobile
Branch Secretary
Alice Campus
Ongeziwe Mbulawa
Branch Convener
King Campus
*South African Students Congress:*
Bukho Kanayo
Branch Secretary
King Campus
Inathi Lamani
Branch Secretary
Zwelitsha Campus
For Media Enquires & More information:
Bridget Sakman
Media & Publicity Secretary
082 604 0237
[email protected]
Lime Ngaka
Media & Publicity Officer
068 720 7026
[email protected]
Asemahle Daki
Media & Publicity Officer
078 545 4504
SASCO Central Region
