A former personal assistant at the Eastern Cape department of education’s district development and support office has been convicted and sentenced for fraud and money laundering.
This comes after an extensive investigation and arrest by the Hawks’ East London Serious Corruption Investigation team.
Defrauded state of over R800k
Zukiswa Wana, 52, was found guilty of defrauding the department of more than R800,000 related to the Cluster C Districts Development and Support Office.
The East London regional court handed Wana a five-year suspended sentence for the crime. The offence was committed in October 2012. She was ordered to repay R410,000 from her state pension to compensate for the state’s loss.
“Her arrest came after the Eastern Cape provincial department of education in Zwelitsha received an internal memo revealing improper payments to two service providers for school hostel catering services,” said the police.
The department identified three irregularly authorised school hostel catering expenditure approval documents. These amounts exceeded R800,000 and were related to the Cluster C Districts Development and Support Office.
Forged signatures
The memo reported that payments were made without actual services being rendered. It added that signatures were forged to authorise these transactions, said the police.
Wana was identified as the person responsible for the fraudulent authorisation of these payments.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks, Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya, commended the efforts made to ensure that Wana faced legal consequences.
