The East London Regional court yesterday, February 7 convicted Sibongile Mani (31), a
student from Walter Sisulu University, on charges of theft in connection with the R14 million that was paid to her National Student
Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) account by mistake.
Magistrate Twanette Olivier found Mani guilty of stealing R818 000 of the funds.
Hawks Spokesperson, Yolisa Mgolodela, said during the 2017 academic year Mani, who was a student at Walter Sisulu
University (WSU), was allocated R18 370 per annum towards her tuition fees
and R14 000 per annum towards her food allowance by NSFAS.
“Both tuition
and food allowance were directly paid to WSU by NSFAS. Intellimali managed, on behalf of WSU, the food and book allowances of students who received NSFAS
financial assistance,” said Mgolodela.
“The food allowance were uploaded onto the student’s
registration as credit on behalf of WSU on monthly basis. On June 1, 2017, Mani was
erroneously credited with R14 Million. She immediately embarked on a
lavish spending spree where during the period between June 2017 and August 14,
2017 she spent R818 000 at merchants in the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and
Centurion.”
On August 14, 2017 the error was detected and her student card
immediately stopped from making any further purchases and the matter was
reported to the Hawks for probing.
Mgolodela confirmed that the matter has been postponed to March 8
for a pre-sentence report by the probation officer and a correctional supervision
report.
