The Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) will trace 3,638 unidentified beneficiaries through the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security.

Acting CEO Kennedy Kandume could not, however, confirm the exact amount owed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

The committee questioned how the Fund could grant funds to individuals without identity documents, to which Kandume replied that this was the system they found.

He added that this was no longer the case at the Fund.

Committee members further requested clarity on the outstanding loan amount for unidentified students.

Kandume could not provide the figures or the names of the institutions the students studied at, requesting an opportunity to gather accurate information.

The unsatisfied committee raised the possibility of the institution having ghost students registered, citing a lack of accountability and administrative justice at the Fund.

Kandume assured the committee that they would be provided with the relevant information for their queries within seven working days.

The Committee on Public Accounts also wanted clarity on the inventory when NSFAF was inherited from the Ministry of Education.

Kandume said he was not privy to the list, though he did not dispute its existence.

Questions also centred on how the company that compiled the inventory list for NSFAF and rendered services like transporting files to it from the Education Ministry was chosen.

Here, Kandume was again left without a satisfactory answer, saying he was an accounting officer at the time, even though he was aware of the service-level agreement in place.

A date for the next NSFAF hearing is yet to be determined.