In the face of rampant youth unemployment, inequality and increasing poverty levels, monies owed to the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) by employers must be written off.
This, in no uncertain terms, is a position being advanced by Swapo lawmaker and deputy transport minister Veikko Nekundi.
A resurgent Nekundi ventilated this in the National Assembly last week, advocating that the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) can be a tool government can use to promote entrepreneurship and employment creation.
Nekundi called on the assembly to discuss NSFAF loans being written off for beneficiaries who create employment for 10 or more people.
“The best approach is one that involves forgiving student debts under the provision of fostering entrepreneurship and job creation among the youth. The motion is whether Namibia should undertake this audacious endeavour, and with no doubt, Namibia can open doors to transformative change,” said Nekundi.
He added that most graduates face challenges of first job entry and debt repayment, suggesting that NSFAF should evolve into a revolving fund with well-defined sub-programmes.
The sub-programmes, he said, should focus on educational and career guidance, self-employment and job creation.
However, the fund is currently facing a substantial challenge in terms of outstanding student debt to the extent of threatening students with lawsuits in the face of poverty and unemployment.
It was stated that since inception, the fund has been owed over N$10 billion by over 132 000 beneficiaries.
“This situation not only places a significant strain on NSFAF’s financial resources but also underscores the urgent need for effective measures to address and rectify this growing issue of student loans amid high unemployment and delinquency,” Nekundi added.
The fund has adopted an aggressive stance to get what is owed to it until it summoned some lawmakers, believed to be former beneficiaries, in arrears.
This aggressive stance has resulted in the recovery of at least N$25 million over the last two financial years.
Popular Democratic Movement’s Maximalliant Katjimune is one of the former beneficiaries still in arrears.
Katjimune remains firm in his resolve that he “will not pay back the money”.
Expected to still give his contribution to the motion, the youthful lawmaker is adamant that if government can pump billions into war veterans’ projects and their dependents, “then the same courtesy can surely be extended to students who are trying to pursue an education to uplift their families from generational poverty”.
Kennedy Kandume, the acting CEO of NSFAF and other managers appeared before the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts in July.
During the meeting, Kandume admitted that the fund has no records of how N$1.7 billion in student loans and grants were spent.
Kandume explained the lack of a proper data capture system contributed to the fund’s inability to account for the millions.
He stated that after the implementation of a data integration system, approximately N$220 million had been successfully recovered.
However, he did not provide details on how the remaining N$77 million would be recovered.