Meet the girl who received R14 million by mistake from NSFAS

Sibongile Mani, the Walter Sisulu University student at the centre of an accidental R14-million payout, said she will get through the experience. “It’s difficult, very difficult but I will get through [it],” said Mani, who had allegedly spent more than R800,000 after an administrative error saw her receive R14-million for food and book allowances. Asked to tell her side of the story, Mani said: “I am not ready.”

Intellimali CEO Michael Ansell said on Wednesday the company would be taking full financial and administrative responsibility after Mani had apparently “misappropriated” R818,000 in what the company described as an “unprecedented” event in its 10 year history.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation referred to later‚ Intellimali takes full administrative and financial responsibility for the incident. Neither the funder‚ National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) nor the university (WSU) have erred in any way and they are not responsible for this. In addition‚ no student’s financial aid support will be affected in any way‚” he said.

Ansell said the company had already implemented the necessary controls to avoid such an incident in the future.

“As is our standard practice, Intellimali deactivated that student’s allowance and notified the university that we would investigate the matter.

“In this case, the investigation proved to be complex, highly technical and time consuming. It required the attention of both internal professionals and external experts,” he said.
Sibongile Mani accidentally received a R14.1-million payment on her student debit card and allegedly blew over R800,000 of it.

NSFAS spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo said they had requested the university to explain how the error occurred.

“The university must account,” he said.

University spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said the university had been notified that Mani went on a “lavish” spending spree.

“People started complaining after she started living a very lavish lifestyle,” Tukwayo said.

“All students who were supposed to receive their money, did receive their money. This didn’t negatively affect any students,” she said.

Tukwayo said the university would be investigating how Mani managed to spend so much money, since there were only certain merchants where the money could be spent on food and books.

“Some students picked this up from the very lavish lifestyle she started living. We will also be looking into how this money was spent to buy some of the expensive goods‚” Tukwayo said.

“It was very callous and she did not report the matter immediately. She will definitely be held responsible‚” she said.