Debt collectors go after graduates

The state has made its intentions clear in a notice in the October 5 issue of the Government Gazette placed by the Department of Student Placement and Welfare (DSPW) in the Ministry of Education. The notice invites citizen companies with the right credentials to tender for the provision of debt collection services in the loan recovery process. The companies must have a proven track record in debt collection of at least two years.

DSPW director, Mosoma Kgotla said the affected must either come forward and start paying or "face paying their grant at a cost". However, he did not reveal when the debt collectors would go after defaulters. "The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board procedures take months and we would not know at this point when the process of appointing the company would be completed," Kgotla said.