Walter Sisulu University (WSU) accounting student Sibongile Mani (31) has been found guilty on all 10 charges against her after more than R14 million was mistakenly paid into her bank account.
During the trial, WSU admitted to their error stating that the money from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), was accidentally deposited into her account by their service provider, Intellimali.
The matter came to light when a receipt with a multi-million rand balance was posted on social media and quickly went viral.
The NSFAS said in a brief statement at the time that they were not responsible for such a large payment as this would be impossible.
They put the blame on the service provider Intellimali who took full responsibility for the error which they called "unprecedented".
Magistrate Twanette Olivier found Mani guilty in the East London Regional Court on Monday, concurring with the State's version of events and the evidence of the various State witnesses.
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.
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.
The bulk of the money had been blown on alcohol, appliances, furniture, beauty products and data.
Mani was arrested by the Hawks in 2018 and has been out on bail pending her sentencing on the 8th of March.
Sibongile Mani and her lawyer Asanda Pakade
