Convicted fraudster Portia Sizani is expected back in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday.
In March, Sizani, wife of South Africa’s ambassador to Germany and former African National Congress Chief Whip Stone Sizani, was found guilty of 15 counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering.
Sizani’s sentencing was previously delayed after her defence team brought an application for a special review which was subsequently dismissed.
Earlier this month, her defence team asked for a postponement seeking a copy of the court’s judgment in dismissing the application.
Sizani defrauded the Eastern Cape education department out of more than R1.2 million by processing several fraudulent applications for Grade R teaching posts.
Sizani was the Early Childhood Development (ECD) district coordinator at the time and appointed “ghost teachers” and pocketed their pay during 2009 and 2010.
The ECD programme provided for the appointment of Grade R teachers at Eastern Cape schools.
Sizani was arrested in December 2012 and the trial was delayed for more than a year due to her alleged ill health. When the trial eventually kicked off more delays saw the case drag on for years.
Sizani started working for the department as a teacher in East London in 1991 and slowly worked her way up the ranks. Her husband was the former education MEC and resigned from that position in 2002.
-African News Agency (ANA)
