The South African Union of Students (SAUS) says those who are part of the so-called ‘missing middle’ should not be punished for what it terms the negligence of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The students’ scheme has welcomed the report that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) presented to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

It detailed that approximately R 5 billion in NSFAS funds were awarded to 40 000 students who did not qualify for the funding.

The union’s spokesperson Asive Dlanjwa says they understand that there should be consequences but the students must not be victims of circumstances.

Dlanjwa says, “It’s a question of an ineffective funding model for the students of the working class. There are students who misrepresent information in order to qualify for benefits for funding when actually they are outside consideration for minimum households’ annual income of 50 000. Now, we are saying those consequences, we do not believe they should not be criminal in nature.”