A Walter Sisulu University (WSU) student who was mistakenly given R14 million instead of her usual R1 400 monthly university grant from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and splurged over R800 000 of it, has managed to dodge a five-year prison sentence.
Also read: Stellenbosch student cycles across SA to raise funds for student debt relief
32-year-old Sibongile Mani who had to rely on benefits from the scheme to pay for her to study, could not believe it when she checked her bank account and saw that she had received 10 000 times too much money from Intellimali, a company contracted by NSFAS to disburse funds to university students.
The instant multi-millionairess decided not to question it and proceeded to splash out R818 000 on an array of luxuries including designer clothing, handbags, an iPhone and a variety of alcoholic drinks in the Eastern Cape, Centurion and Johannesburg.
Her 76-day spending spree, however, came to an end when she left a receipt behind at a supermarket which showed the amount of money she still had in her bank account at the time and was reported to the police, according to Daily Mail.
Mani was arrested and charged with theft and fraud in August 2017, and the balance of the money was recovered from her account.
It took NSFAS three months to detect the error.
In March 2022, she was sentenced to five years in prison in the East London regional court. Some felt that the sentence, which was pronounced live on television, was exceptionally harsh for a South African court, reported African Insider at the time.
Cape {town} Etc discount: Looking for things to do in the city at half the price? Get exclusive offers here.
Her lawyer Asanda Pakade appealed against both her conviction and sentence on the grounds that NSFAS had erroneously sent her the R14 million and had not noticed the amount missing until it was alerted to them.
Additionally, he argued that Mani was not a candidate for prison as she had not sought out the money and was no danger to society.
After being sentenced she wrote on her blog that she saw it as ‘miracle money’ and a ‘gift from God’ and ‘didn’t think twice’ on whether it was wrong to spend it, reported Daily Mail.
On Friday last week, the acting judge in the Eastern Cape High Court, Sally Collett, and Judge Nozuko Mjali set aside the previous sentence and replaced it with a suspended five-year sentence under correctional supervision and three and a half weeks of community service, provided she does not commit a theft or fraud in that time.
‘While it would be undesirable to understate the behaviour of Mani, which was unquestionably the result of conscious and calculated decision-making, it is doubtful whether incarceration would satisfy the interests of justice,’ ruled Collett.
The just-married mother-of-two was also told to attend regular counselling and rehabilitative programmes offered by the Department of Correctional Services.
Mani may not leave Komani without the approval of correctional services.
According to Daily Mail, Pakade said afterwards: ‘She is very relieved and very happy that she does not have to go to prison and is looking forward to putting all this behind her and starting again.
‘She is putting her life which was left in tatters back together again and is looking forward to starting afresh and is very grateful that the court took the decisions that it took’ he said.
Explore Cape Town and its surroundings with these incredible deals on cars for under R100 000. Find car listings here.
Also read:
Picture: Sibongile Mani / Facebook