Olwethu Xabanisa
Walter Sisulu University honour's accounting student, Sibongile Mani, has been jailed for five years for the theft of R800 000 of the R14 million that had been erroneously paid into her NSFAS student account.
Delivering sentence in the East London Regional Court on Wednesday, Magistrate Twanet Olivier said while guided by case law, the court was of the view that a suspended sentence would be totally inappropriate.
She said the only form of sentence deemed appropriate was that of direct imprisonment.
In jailing the 31-year-old mother of two, Olivier said that Mani was not driven by need, but by greed, highlighting a list of luxury items bought during Mani's spending spree.
The Accounting Student was convicted in February and had remained out on bail pending sentencing.
During sentencing, Magistrate Olivier said that Mani made a conscious decision, every day for 76 days, to spend money several times a day.
She said it was like Mani was rushing against time to spend as much money as possible before getting caught.
Olivier added that Mani never explained to the court what had happened to all the luxury goods like frying pans, hair straighteners, air fryers and microwaves that she had bought.
She said if service provider Intellimali had not paid back the money to NSFAS, 585 students would have gone hungry as a result of her actions.
During aggravation of sentence earlier in the week, the court heard that Mani did not assist her disadvantaged family with the funds, proving that she knew what she was doing was illegal.
The State added that Mani was not going to report the erroneous payment into her account if she was never caught.
Mani indicated her intention to appeal and her bail was extended.
She will be back in court on the 11th of April.
The NPA says Mani will serve five years imprisonment, subject to the provisions of Section 276 (1) i. of the Criminal Procedure Act.
That effectively means that Mani will serve 10 months of the sentence in custody after which, subject to the discretion of the Commissioner of Correctional Services, she may be released on supervision.
