NSFAF under fire

The Namibian Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) is under fire once again.The student funding body, which is already being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged tender irregularity, is now accused of awarding a N$1.1 million tender for the outsourcing of ICT management services, months after informing bidders that the tender had been cancelled.The controversy surrounding the IT tender has also been picked up by the Ministry of Public Enterprises, which yesterday confirmed that it was also investigating NSFAF.The awarding of the tender has raised eyebrows among service providers after the tender was initially cancelled, only to be awarded to a company in January. Namibian Sun is in possession of a letter signed by NSFAF manager for administration Hilya Shikongo, dated 18 November 2015, in which she informed bidders that the said tender had been cancelled.The letter offered no explanation why the tender had been cancelled. In January this year, the tender was awarded to a company called Kudu Networks cc, NSFAF spokesperson Olavi Hamwele confirmed.NSFAF failed to explain why the tender was not re-advertised.Minister of Public Enterprises Leon Jooste confirmed that his ministry had decided to investigate the student funding body under its mandate to conduct special investigations.He said the ministry would also look into other NSFAF affairs raised in the media. “The Ministry of Public Enterprises has under Section 29 of the Public Enterprise Governance Act the powers to conduct special investigations. We have decided to investigate NSFAF to clarify this and all other concerns which have been raised in the media lately,” said Jooste.“We will be happy to share the facts as they are revealed through the investigation but I now need facts. We can only take decisions based on facts.”One of the initial bidders, who requested anonymity, has accused NSFAF of corruption.“This is very unfair, the fact that it was a public tender, it must be transparent and all tenderers must be treated equally,” he said.“Why did NSFAF advertise a public tender and cancel it without any reasons while awarding the same tender to a certain contractor? In fact, this contractor is rumoured to be defrauding this government entity by pocketing as much as N$3 000 just to send a mail and more than N$10 000 just to sit in a meeting doing nothing. “It is believed that he has pocketed more than N$500 000 in just in four months by charging NSFAF for everything, even for walking into the building or answering a telephone. This basically means if you want to be a millionaire in a short period of time, be friends with NSFAF and get a consultation project. You will smile all the way to the bank.”Tender probeACC director Paulus Noa yesterday said that the anti-graft agency was looking into NSFAF’s procurement procedures. A local daily recently reported that the ACC was investigating NSFAF for procuring a multi-million-dollar new management information system (MIS) while there was already one in place.New Era reported that during 2014 the fund went ahead and bought a new system from Pro-Investment International in Tunisia. It was reportedly bought without a public tender going out.Tracing defaultersIn a recent interview with Namibian Sun, NSFAF also admitted to having appointed a technical company to implement an “integrated recovery system” for the institution. “NSFAF has appointed a technical partner in Tribesmen/NICS Joint venture to implement an integrated recovery system which will remove the challenges of having a manual process.“The moving from a manual file system to an online integrated system will assist in streamlining the recovery process,” NSFAF said.It said it was trying to trace about 16 000 former recipients of loans, grants and bursaries dating back to 1997. “The appointed consultant has also enabled NSFAF to have access to the credit bureau (ITC) data. We can now trace the economic activities of indebted students in the market. This means we can trace the students through TransUnion and CompuScan,” NSFAF said.GORDON JOSEPH

NSFAF under fire

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-16

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NSFAF under fire

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-16

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