The Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) recovered just N$21.5 million in student loans during the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to less than 1% of its N$11.7 billion student loan portfolio.
The low recovery rate comes amid concerns over long-standing arrears and weaknesses in NSFAF’s loan records, reconciliation processes and recovery efforts, according to Auditor-General Junias Kandjeke’s report for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The Auditor-General issued a qualified audit opinion on NSFAF’s financial statements, citing shortcomings relating to accounting disclosures, measurement of the student loan book and reconciliation of repayments.
Auditors found insufficient documentation to demonstrate that effective loan recovery measures and engagement with debtors had been consistently undertaken during the period under review.
NSFAF’s student loan portfolio stood at approximately N$11.7 billion at the end of March 2025, while its expected credit loss allowance amounted to about N$5.3 billion.
“The auditors noted that the Fund did not measure the student loan book, amounting to N$11 703 688 269, at amortised cost during the financial year under review, in accordance with the requirements of IPSAS 41,” the report said.
The audit also identified weaknesses in the underlying borrower information, including uncertainty around invalidated records and incomplete verification of borrowers against Ministry of Home Affairs records.
A further N$20.3 million in student loan repayments remained unallocated in a clearing account at the end of the financial year following a moratorium on the migration of NSFAF’s Acumatica (Aculoan) system.
The Auditor-General said supporting reconciliation records were not provided, preventing auditors from verifying the balances.
NSFAF also had an unreconciled student loan balance of N$340 million linked to an ongoing data-cleaning exercise. The project is expected to continue until March 2027.
Despite the identified shortcomings, Kandjeke said the financial statements fairly presented NSFAF’s financial position, except for the matters forming the basis of the qualified opinion.
The audit also found that NSFAF submitted its financial statements in October 2025, missing the statutory deadline of 31 July 2025.
Further weaknesses were identified in the Fund’s strategic planning and performance management, including inconsistencies between planning documents and performance targets and the failure to conduct required mid-year staff performance evaluations.
NSFAF ceased operating as a standalone statutory entity after it was reintegrated into the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation on 28 February 2026.
