Photo: Twitter/Sibongile Mani
This is quite the story so let’s get right into it. Meet 27-year-old Sibongile Mani. Mani is a South African accountancy student at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. And that she wants to be an accountant is ironic because this is all about money.
Mani was supposed to get about $107 in a food grant to help her out, something she gets every month. But there was a mistake as the school accidentally gave her over $1,700,000 instead. And rather than speak up, Mani went on a 73 day shopping spree.
Accountancy Student Accidentally Gets Over A Million Dollars In Loan, Goes On Shopping Spree
Photo: Facebook/Sibongile Mani
Mani took the money and spent it on designer outfits, a new phone, bottles of whiskey, new weaves and expensive trips around the world for her and her friends. But it all came to a halt when Samkelo Mqhayi, deputy branch secretary of the South African Students Congress (SASCO), reported her to the National Students’ Financial Aids Scheme.
“When the SPAR receipt was leaked showing a balance of R13.6-million in her account I called NSFAS and they checked their records and confirmed that the initial amount was R14-million.” Mqhayyi explained.
Photo: Facebook/Sibongile Mani
SASCO branch chairman Zolile Zamisa had this to say to Herald Live:
“We are shocked. Not so long ago we were protesting for thousands of students who were left without funding due to fund shortages. Yet she was living a lavish lifestyle hosting birthday parties for her friends at up-market champagne clubs and other expensive hangouts. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”
Mani tried to defend herself in a Facebook post:
‘Today my personal life has become a social media scandal. I have been named and shamed in public. Today, I am a bad person, a person who stole the money of students. With that being said, and being named a thief, but as we all know in every story there is truth and there are lies with the very same story.”
Mani also took it to Twitter to explain her side.
My Side of the Story #SibongileMani#NSFAS pic.twitter.com/WHw61e9I3P
— Sibongile Mani (@ManiSibongile) August 30, 2017
So she isn’t denying it, but Mani is claiming that she reported the error. Was it before or after she went bonkers and spent the cash?
Well, according to Yonela Tukwayo, a Walter Sisulu University spokeswoman, Mani will “have to repay the cash.” So good luck with that. And that’s not the end of Mani’s headache as she may now be facing a theft charge.
“Legal action will be taken against the student. A forensic investigator had been appointed,” Intellimali chief executive Michael Ansell said.
h/t Daily Mail
