Sending Sibongile Mani to prison would be unfortunate and has the potential to destroy her future, according to Correctional Services probation officer Unathi Mahlanyana, who on Tuesday presented a report to court as part of pre-sentencing arguments.
Mani, the Walter Sisulu University student, was found guilty by the East London regional court in February of theft amounting to R818 000 after the university’s NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) service provider, Intellimali, erroneously deposited R14-million into her student account on June 1 2017.
Mani was arrested in May 2018 and had been out on bail.
Mani, who was only entitled to receive R1 400 as part of her monthly allowance, did not report the error. Instead, she went on a shopping spree for three months until the error was discovered and her purchasing card was blocked.
Her defence attorney Asanda Pakade quoted from the report and pleaded for a suspended sentence, arguing that she was a single mother of two children and has a promising future.
He argued that the NSFAS did not incur financial losses as a result of Mani’s conduct, adding that the Intellimali could have pursued other means to recover the losses.
Pleading with the court to afford his client an opportunity to contribute to society through the education she has acquired, Pakade said Mani is remorseful and regrets her actions.
He also raised that the accused posed no threat to society and that her crime should not be viewed as that of a person who intended to commit a crime.
But the state took a hardline approach and asked for Mani to be jailed for a minimum sentence of 15 years. State prosecutor advocate Jacques Cilliers argued that Mani had no intention to stop stealing the money if the error had not been discovered.
He said Intellimali ran into a loss as a result her actions, noting that what it has lost can never be recovered.
Cilliers added that the accused elected not to take the court into her confidence and pleaded guilty, and that she is now expressing regret because she knows she is in trouble. He told the court that theft should not be condoned, and that anyone found guilty of theft should face serious consequences.
Magistrate Twanet Olivier postponed the matter to Wednesday, March 30 for sentencing.
Zandisiwe Nyimbane, the Walter Sisulu University SRC secretary at the Komani campus, said Mani’s only crime was being a black person, saying the accused should have been on the dock together with the person who deposited the money into her student account.
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