5 Lessons We can Learn from the Whopping R14 Million Student Allowance Blunder. #5 Will Blow Your Mind!

It is alleged that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) mistaken sent R14-million to a Walter Sisulu University student instead of the usual R1‚400 allowance. 

They are more questions than answers to the trending saga. Questions like how could this have lasted up to 3 months without the University or NSFAS knowledge? How could such an enormous error be discovered only through a tip-off and social media pictures? How come the system did not pick up the error during monthly financial statements? Do they even do monthly financials? Is there bookkeeping at NSFAS? Or everything is on free-mode? Could they be more cases of this magnitude that will never be discovered? 

Did the student in question know for real that it was R14 million? Perhaps she just thought the numbers on the Available Balance Section were usually long and never really bothered trying to check/read it as long as there was no case of “sorry, you have insufficient funds to proceed with this transaction” Once again, did she really know it was R14million?How could she have posted the picture of the receipt to social media?  How could she have attempted to chowed R14 million on designer booze, designer shoes, designer weaves, iPhones and parties? What kind of friends does she have? A perfect example of chickens of same feathers clucking together, right?
  

These and much more are some of the questions the public will like to know the answers. However, I’ll leave the answers to those seeking answers and focus on seeking lessons. There is always something to learn in every situation and the whopping R14 million blunder is one of those.

According to news report, the student spent over R810‚000 on personal items over a period of three months - an average of R11‚000 per day. By the time the error was detected‚ she had transformed herself and her friends into glamorous women‚ sporting expensive weaves‚ carrying iPhone 7 cellphones‚ slugging back shots of R700-a-bottle whisky and emulating their music idols‚ especially Beyonce.

Every situation has a lesson in it and this is no exception. While stones are being thrown at all directions from all directions, permit me to provide a different perspective on this matter. Let’s make use of the rain after a storm. I’ve come up with 5 lessons we can all learn from this saga. This is not standard but just thoughts I’ll love to share.  

 1. Lack of preparation leads to miscarriage opportunities.

 

Are you prepared for a R14million increase? Sounds like a silly question, right? But recent events have proved how unprepared our generation is for such a whopping change in bank balance. People prepare for raining bad days but not for sunny good days. We prepare for death but not for living. We prepare for disaster and all kinds of catastrophic situations but rarely do people prepare for when good things can happen (assuming the money wasn’t a mistake). There is absolutely nothing wrong in preparing for when a storm hits as John F Kennedy said “the right time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining” However, lack of preparation for good things renders the good of no value when it does happen. Assuming the R14 million transfer was not a mistake, I doubt the student would’ve spent it any different. She clearly wasn’t prepared for anything of that nature, hence the wastage and miscarriage. Not that anyone can actually go around preparing to receive R14million but the point here is Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Action without vision and preparation is just passing time  

 2. Money is not the cure for poverty. 

Poverty is aggravated when money is given to a 'poor mind'. Giving money to a 'poor mind' is no different from putting it in a dustbin. Only people with ambition, big dreams and the right mindset can cure poverty. For majority of people life is nothing more than go to school, get a job, make babies, pay bills, buy groceries, eat food and die. No dreams, no ambition, and no desire to aim for something bigger. Since the whopping R14 million saga came to light, radio stations and other media have been asking their audiences on how they’ll spend the money and shockingly majority of responses are “I’ll go on a shopping spree”. I listened to one guy online saying how he’ll go to China for breakfast and shop for toiletries in Dubai. Forgive the Passion For Change in me but responses like these activate buckets of tears in my heart. How can we advance with this kind of mentality? Who did this to us? I recently listened to an exclusive interview of Elon Musk where he said he would’ve bought a chain of islands after selling Paypal Company but that was not the big dream for him. “Islands are not of interest to me” he said.  Neither are designer clothes or breakfast in China I suppose. Elon Musk is the greatest entrepreneur of the 21^st century. He is driven by a bigger purpose with unusual dreams to transform the world in ways beyond human imagination. He is an electric cars, solar power, and space rockets enthusiast with a visions to help get humanity off fossil fuel and make space travel accessible to ordinary people. While this may all sound foreign to some people, the point I’m making is that the Elon Musk type of people will respond differently to the question of “how will you spend R14 million” and the answers most probably won’t be shopping in Dubai.

3. Spending mentality keeps us poor

I am not a financial expert by any stretch of imagination but I certainly know for a fact that nobody becomes richer by shopping. Majority of people said they’ll go on a shopping spree if they got up to a whopping bank balance of R14 million. We definitely are heading for a crash beyond junk status if we continue with this mindset of spending, putting today’s happiness before future financial needs.  In all urgency our thinking need to shift from “How can I spend money to make myself happy now?” to “How can I use this money to buy me financial freedom in the future so that I can never be broke another day in my life” The thinking should be how to double R14million before the owners come for it. How to build generational wealth should take priority over weekend parties and bae-cations. If you are able to make that shift in mindset, the legacy building mindset, then you have defeated poverty already irrespective of your current bank balance. 

4. We are obsessed with looking successful instead of actually being successful. 
 

Having a massive number of social media followers, driving latest cars, drinking expensive whisky and living lavishly has no relationship with real success. Whoever told you looking successful equals being successful sold you on the wrong plan. Most of us come from generational poverty yet people are more concern with clothes and iPhones instead of fighting to break the chains of poverty. On a serious note, let’s pause for a moment – a moment of brutal honesty. Come to think of it. Is your problem really lack of clothes? Is your problem really lack of shoes? Is your problem really a car? Have you ever heard of anyone being remembered for their shoes, clothes or cars after they’re dead? Once you are dead, nobody cares what car you were driving, what shoes you were wearing, what weave was on your head. The world will not remember you for your Rolex watch, your breakfast in China or shopping in Dubai. At the end of it all you will only be remembered for the lives you touched, the change you impacted or the invention or innovation you created. Therefore, let’s strive to build a legacy instead of a vacancy. Let’s, strive to leave a good inheritance for our children’s children. Leave a good name for the next generation to carry without shame. God did not send you on this earth just to come and wear nice clothes.

5. Schooling is not education
 

Never mistake school for getting an education. Education is not synonymous with schooling, no matter what you may have been told or what you propagate without question. They are so many uneducated graduates in our world today. The best option is to become the master of your own education and achieve success in all areas of your life. Schooling is all about preparing you for what society expects you to be; education is about preparing yourself for who you need or wish to be. The student who received R14million was in school but not educated. If she were educated, she would’ve done things/spent the money differently. Even in the worst educated blunder, a short term investment would’ve made her more money than she actually spent and that’s putting it mildly. She is in school to study and go get a job, a job that will never give her R14 million, yet it fell into her lap and she went shopping

In conclusion, you don’t actually need R14 million to make a change. Start where you are with what you have. Plan your life, know what you want. Carefully study these five lessons and pick what works for you. Preparation is key and be sure to prepare for both the rainy and the sunny days. Do not be among those too indifferent or lazy to acquire facts with which to think accurately. Change your mindset! Educate yourself! In the book, think and grow rich, Napoleon Hill said, “Wealth acquired too soon is more dangerous than poverty”

By Nicky Verd
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Nicky Verd, a Prolific Writer, KickAss Blogger, Transformational Speaker and Brand Ambassador for Global Startup Awards -Southern Africa.

Her purpose in life is to serve, empower and ignite human potential. She is passionate about inspiring you to Take Ownership of Your Life.

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