A group of students sympathetic to Walter Sisulu University student, Sibongile Mani has slammed her conviction.
Mani was found guilty of theft and sentenced to five years in prison after she was accidentally credited R14 million in her account instead of her standard NSFAS allowance. Of the R14 million that was credited into her account, she spent around R800 000.
Speaking during a television interview The group, Justice for Sibongile Mani, says the student is being used as a scapegoat.
We believe she is not a criminal as proclaimed by some in the media but an innocent student who is used as a scapegoat to cover trucks of actual criminals that are still out there.
In response to the upheaval that ensued following Mani’s conviction, NSFAS stated that, when the incident came to light, they commissioned an internal audit review of its systems and controls, and confirmed that indeed no financial loss was suffered. The outcome of this review is on record.
The bursary provider further stated that investigations were also conducted by Walter Sisulu University as well as DHET and that the outcome revealed that service provider Intellimali was the only entity that suffered financial loss due to the weakness in internal controls and systems which led to this incident.
