March 30, (THEWILL) – A former South African student was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday, after she went on a shopping spree with a $1 million university scholarship that she received in error.
Sibongile Mani, 31, was a student at Walter Sisulu University in Eastern Cape province.
She had qualified for 1,400-rand (about $100) in monthly food allowances from the National Students Financial Aid Scheme, which aids underprivileged students.
Instead, she was accidentally given $1.1 million in June 2018, and went on a spending spree..
It took the scheme three months to detect the error after she spent some $56,000, splurging on expensive clothing, a smart phone and partying.
The Scheme only recovered the remainder of the funds from her bank account.
Mani was arrested by the police’s serious commercial crime unit after she was asked to turn herself in, said Anelisa Feni, spokeswoman for an elite police unit, the Hawks.
Delivering a ruling on Wednesday, a court in East London, sentenced Mani to five years for theft.
Her sentence, which was pronounced live on television, was exceptionally harsh for a South African court.
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