Sibongile Mani will be facing five years in prison after it was found that Sibongile stole 818 000 rands of the 14 million that was paid in error to her account.
Sibongile Mani guilty of theft
As reported by News24, Sibongile Mani was only entitled to R1400 per month for a food allowance. Sibongile alleges that she did not know the bursary agreement terms and spent the money she thought belonged to her.
On Wednesday, 30th March, the Judge found Sibongile Mani guilty of stealing R818 000 that was paid to her account. It was also found that she spent this amount of money within two months at 48 stores.
By the time NSFAS had found the error in payment, Sibongile had already spent the before mentioned amount of money. It was also made known that at least 48 students could have benefitted from the money she had spent.
Sibongile spent R818 000 in two months
Thus far, Sibongile Mani has spent the money on food, bags, cigarettes, clothes for men, and alcohol. In court, her Lawyer expressed that her sentence was not appropriate.
Right now, Sibongile will have to spend three years in prison until she can be granted parole. She is currently an Education Honors student at Walter Sisulu University.
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In the hopes of keeping Sibongile out of prison, it was made known that she is a mother of two and is the only one that is able to take care of her children.
Previously, Sibongile Mani claimed that she didn’t know how much was owed to her monthly but was part of student administration and would have known this. It is therefore thrown out that she didn’t know how much was owed to her.
