Net closing in on NSFAS instant millionaire
SIU to get proclamation from JZ to launch probe
The net is closing in on National Student Financial Aid Scheme “multi-millionaire” from Walter Sisulu University Sibongile Mani, 27, and friends who helped her spend over R800 000 in 73 days.
Yesterday, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced it was contemplating getting a proclamation from President Jacob Zuma to launch a probe.
SIU spokeswoman Nazreen Pandor said the matter was receiving attention, but that all investigations had to be carried out on the basis of a gazetted proclamation from Zuma.
Pandor said: “After considering the matter, we may, on our own, request a proclamation.”
The university’s spokeswoman, Yonela Tukwayo, confirmed the involvement of SIU investigators in the saga.
Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande waded in yesterday, “condemning in the strongest terms the erroneous payment”, saying he had ordered NSFAS and education officials to “urgently get to the bottom of the matter”.
The looming involvement of the elite police unit confirms that the case may not have been a technical error, as many believed, but is likely to become th e subject of a criminal investigation.
IntelliMali, the agency responsible for transferring students allowances for food and stationery on behalf of NSFAS, announced yesterday that they would also file criminal charges against Mani.
On Tuesday night a till slip run up by the second-year accounting student, which showed her NSFAS balance of R13.6-million, went viral.
Mani’s NSFAS card was supposed to have been credited with R1 400 for food on June 1, but she was given access to R14.1-million.
Sowetan’s sister publication, the Dispatch, reported on how the instant millionaire did not waste time in spending the money. She splashed hundreds of thousands of rand on lavish parties and ditched her cornrow hairstyle for a R3 000 Peruvian weave.
In 73 days – from June 1 to August 13, – Mani spent on average R11 000 a day. She bought herself and her immediate
‘ ‘ It may not have been a technical error, as many believed
circle of friends iPhone 7 cellphones and lavishly hosted their birthday parties.
Yesterday, Mani, who is the secretary of Pasma – the student wing of the PAC – was shielded on campus by 150 students who sang PAC struggle songs. They accused Pasma rival on campus, Sasco, of outing Mani on Facebook and also trying to overthrow them.
During questions from the floor, a student demanded Mani be allowed to answer for herself but the leaders refused.