NSFAS, SAQA & DSI 2021/22 Annual Performance Plans; with Minister and Deputy Minister

Date: 05 May 2021

Chairperson: Mr P Mapulane (ANC)

The Committee met virtually to receive briefings from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, South African Qualifications Authority and the Department of Science and Technology on their 2020-25 Strategic Plans and 2021/22 Annual Performance Plans.

Amongst the difficulties of the troubled National Students Financial Aid Scheme, the unavailability of resources to carry its mandate effectively was raised sharply by the Scheme. The entity informed Members that the demand for funding was expected to sharply increase over the medium term due to the pandemic, job losses and the weak economic growth. Due to unavailability of resources many students could not access funding. What worsened matters at the Scheme were the challenges presented by its Information and Communications Technology systems, which were not fit for purpose, and a poor governance environment with policies not properly enforced. Its approved budget for the 2020/21 financial year amounted to R41.5 billion, which excluded the R6.4 billion additional budget approved by the Minister awaiting virement from the National Treasury. By 2023/24, its budget would decrease to R39.6 billion, which posed serious challenges with the expected increase in the number of student applications for funding. Needless to mention that the new Board inherited a disastrous organisation from the previous Administrator, but Members rallied behind the new Board and assured the Board and management that if it remained its preoccupation to address the multiple inefficiencies in the entity, it will receive the full support of the Committee to turn around the entity.

The South African Qualifications Authority reported on its new structure, which was forcefully imposed on it by the Covid-19 pandemic as a result of significant losses of income. The lockdown severely affected the Authority’s ability to generate income from services. It revised its revenue projection for 2021/22 and this unfortunately resulted in a shortfall of R19 million. Challenges experienced in balancing the 2020/21 budget resulted in major expense and projects being deferred to 2021/22. The Authority was then left with no choice but to initiate retrenchments on 01 May 2021 to avoid further payments of salaries as it attempted to minimise the volume of retrenchments. It assured the Committee that under the new structure, the retrenched staff would be prioritised for available positions.

The Minister joined the meeting to provide an overview of the work that the Department of Science and Innovation has been doing. He touched on the White Paper on Science and Innovation and the Decadal Plan, which its aim was not only to mainstream the STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) in government, in a broad sense, but to also mainstream it in the whole of society. The adoption of the Decadal Plan meant that the President will soon appoint an Inter-Ministerial Committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Decadal Plan from Cabinet level. The Minister also touched on the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Pla), and as part of the Plan, there is a Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, which was introduced as an employment stimulus based on the R100 billion allocation for job retention.

The Department of Science and Innovation has played an important role in mitigating the impact of Covid-19. In the wake of Covid-19, the Department set aside R69 million from the constrained budget, for research and related activities that were linked to tackle Covid-19. The money went towards funding since June 2020 for epidemiology of Covid-19. This research has led to the discovery of the first variant of Covid-19, which contributed globally in sensitising the global scientific community in the mutation of the virus. In addition, there was work led by the Human Sciences Research Council and the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, which have completed surveys and research on dealing with the attitude of the people towards Covid-19 and vaccines. This work has fed into the work of the National Coronavirus Command Council as well as the Department of Health to better respond to the pandemic. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has set up a dashboard, which enables the Department to study how the pandemic was manifesting itself up to district level in the country. The dashboard reveals what is happening in each district. Lastly, an observatory was established to follow and track Covid-19.

Members asked about the Financial Aid Scheme’s vacancy rate; cases that were still under litigation and the costs therein; fundraising strategy; student funding appeals; Information and Communications Technology challenges and personnel incapacity; whether the Scheme funding model would be geared towards funding qualifications in demand to boost economic growth; frames and progress for the Technology Innovation Agency as well as reviews of the South African National Space Agency; renewal of tax incentives on research and development.

Members asked questions about the National Qualifications Framework Bill; reconfiguration of the structure; retrenched personnel at the Qualifications Authority.

Members also asked whether the District Development Model is properly highlighted in the Decadal Plan and whether it was linked to give expression to the White Paper on science and innovation.