Sibongile Mani, who splurged close to a million of NSFAS funds mistakenly paid into her Walter Sisulu University student’s account in 2017 has been convicted of theft by the East London Regional Court on Monday.
More than R14m was mistakenly deposited in the account of Mani. She was only entitled to receive R1,400 and had received the money in error.
Within two hours of the money being deposited on June 1, she had spent more than R20,000 on various items including alcohol, cigarettes, electrical appliances, bedding, toys, and gift cards. Her account was eventually blocked on August 14 by Intellimali and by then she had already spent R818,000 of the money. The court heard that in two incidents, Mani had spent more than R170 000 at a supermarket chain in Centurion and another R17 000 at a Shoprite store in George.
Magistrate Twanet Olivie before handing the judgement said Mani’s actions did not speak of a person who lacked knowledge. She ruled that Mani knew what she was doing was wrong, but that she had proceeded to spend over R800 000 of the money anyway in a well-planned manner all over the country. Mani was student leader, activist and accounting student.
“The accused is described as a student activist in her own right, was in a leadership position at the university in 2017 and also the secretary of a student organisation. Based on the above alone, can it be said that the accused did not know the loan amount of the agreement she entered into in her second year of studies?
“The court is satisfied that the version of the state is reliable,” Olivier said.
Mani will be back in the dock on March 8 for pre-sentencing reports.
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