National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) beneficiaries at Stellenbosch University breathed a sigh of relief when their monthly allowances were deposited on Monday, after more than a week of delays. 

Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said the institution became aware of the delayed payments last week after beneficiaries reported it.

"Last week, a number of students alerted Stellenbosch University that they had not yet received their allowances for November. It is the university's understanding that its NSFAS-funded students have now all received their allowances for the month," Viljoen said. 

The Sunday Times reported that thousands of students were left "starving" after NSFAS delayed the payment of allowances to beneficiaries at North-West University, Durban University of Technology, University of Venda (Univen) and Stellenbosch University, among other institutions of higher learning. 

However, the scheme said the delayed payments were "not a NSFAS-generated problem" but rather a glitch in the data adjustment processes at universities through which universities verify the data of beneficiaries and module amendments, which affects funding.

The scheme said it disbursed tuition and allowance payments to universities from 25 October. 

North-West University spokesperson Louis Jacobs told News24 that some beneficiaries only received their allowances on Saturday, while more than 1 000 hadn't received any money by Monday evening, a glitch that Jacobs attributed to "discrepancies in their [NSFAS'] data calculations for this month".

Walter Sisulu University spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said 600 of the institution's 20 500 NSFAS-funded students were still awaiting their allowances.

Tukwayo could not confirm the reason for the delays.

"The contracts are between NSFAS and students, and they manage the disbursements of those funds directly with the students themselves. We are out of the loop in some instances because we are not the middleman in the relationship between NSFAS and the students they decide to fund," she said.

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University said it assisted affected beneficiaries through its student aid schemes. Spokesperson Dr Lusani Netshitomboni said the non-payments were concerning, considering that students are writing their year-end exams.

"We assist the students with basic needs until the problem is resolved. This is critical, particularly now that they are in the middle of exams. We can't wait. We are doing all we can on our side while engaging NSFAS to ensure the issue is taken care of," Netshitomboni said.

He, too, did not know when the scheme would resolve the issue.

"This is an exclusively NSFAS problem. All that we can do is engage them regularly," he said.

The student representative council (SRC) at Univen said more than 9 000 beneficiaries were affected. The council said local businesses donated food to ensure that affected students had meals at least once a day.

Said Univen SRC secretary-general Maduwa Ngelekanyo: "So far, we have introduced our breakfast drive so that students who are going to write their exams can grab two slices of bread, but it's not enough."

He added that the situation had become so dire that student leaders feared for their safety. 

"We are even scared of walking around campus because students are frustrated. We fear for our safety.

"Sometimes we can't leave campus because we fear frustrated students. We might be the student leadership, but we are also students and we are affected," said Ngelekanyo.