The University of South Africa (Unisa) is aware of a letter circulating in the public domain, including on social media, purporting to be an official message by an official of the university relating to the disbursement of NSFAS allowances.
Unisa distances itself from this letter and its contents; and confirms that it has not issued any communication on any platform recently relating to the payment of NSFAS allowances.
The letter in question is bogus and its contents farcical and completely false. Unisa students are therefore advised to view this letter, and any other unsigned communication purporting to be from the university, with caution and suspicion.
Official communication of the university is always issued on the university’s official channels and platforms, including engagement with the recognised student structures on issues affecting the students.
As for the bogus letter itself, the university views this as an act of fraud, and a case of identity theft is being pursued by the staff member whose name has been falsely used in the letter, with the full support of the Unisa legal and risk teams.
The university is also seriously looking into the spurious and malicious allegations contained in the letter, which pose a threat to the reputation of the university.
The university is in good financial health, with enough resources to purchase any equipment and furniture for official purposes as may be necessary. It is therefore inconceivable and absurd to suggest that NSFAS allowances intended for students can be utilised for anything other than the intended purpose.
We also reaffirm the statement issued by the National Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) this week that Unisa is finalising the process of determining and disbursing allowances to its students. This matter is receiving priority attention and the allowances for both returning and new students, including learning material and incidental allowances for qualifying students will be disbursed from Tuesday, 19 March 2024.
Qualifying students are reminded to capture their banking details correctly on the link provided via email on myUnisa in order for their payments to be made timeously.
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Publish date: 2024-03-13 00:00:00.0