Ngaevarue Katjangua
Windhoek-The Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF), through which government funds needy students, has denied allegations of a financial crisis contained in messages circulating on social media. It dismissed the postings as untruthful.
This follows a communication purportedly authored by NSFAF senior manager of operations Kennedy Kandume stating that NSFAF would no longer provide additional funds other than tuition fees for students, due to a N$17 million loss the institution allegedly suffered.
“The institution had a cyber-attack that resulted in the loss of N$17 million. Due to the financial problems NSFAF is facing, all loan holders should be informed that they will have to pay for their institution fees from 2018 and thereafter,” read the fake message posted on social media platforms.
“NSFAF is asking for financial assistance it can get from the public and private sector of Namibia and other countries. NSFAF needs all the help it can get to recover the damages caused by these hackers,” the message added.
However, NSFAF senior manager for marketing and communications Percy Tjahere distanced the NSFAF from the false information.
“NSFAF would like to distance itself from such malicious information and would like to inform the nation at large that such communique is not authentic and thus devoid of any truth,” Tjahere noted.
“In order to restore calm, we therefore wish to encourage our students and society at large to refrain from further facilitating this information as it is not in the best interest of our students, who are currently focusing on their examinations,” he stressed.