The EFF has welcomed the National Student Financial Aid Scheme's (NSFAS) decision to grant Sassa grant beneficiaries automatic student funding at postsecondary schooling level. 

The NSFAS this week opened bursary applications for the 2023 academic year, saying Sassa recipients automatically qualify on financial eligibility and no proof of income will be required. Applications close at the end of the month.

The EFF said the decision was long overdue.

“On numerous occasions, the commander in chief and president of the EFF Julius Malema illustrated the idiotic and humiliating process that NSFAS and institutions of higher learning subject poor children to once they seek funding at universities, universities of technology and Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) colleges,” said EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo. 

“Poor children, who are predominantly young and black, participate in a yearly exercise of poverty Olympics, where they are expected to exhibit their orphan status, the fact that they are on social grants and prove that they are poor enough to receive funding for education.”

Tambo said the party is vindicated for calling for a “logical process” that should have been implemented years ago.

“The EFF has for the past 10 years highlighted this issue and, more importantly, the need to synchronise the data at Sassa, home affairs, the department of basic education and the department of higher education to avoid subjecting qualifying prospective students to unnecessary administration and humiliation,” he said.

“Through our EFF students' command, we will monitor and ensure that no prospective student is asked to provide proof of poverty to receive funding.

“This is a great victory and a testament that the ideas of the EFF remain superior, practical and implementable to better the lives of our people and ensure that education is accessed by all.”