Broke student sent $1 million instead of $100 lives every young person's dream

If you found $1 million in your bank account overnight, would you alert the authorities or seize your chase to splurge?

One student opted for the latter, less responsible option, when she found herself suddenly loaded thanks to a payment error.

Sibongile Mani made the jaw-dropping discovery back in 2017 when she was studying at South Africa ’s Walter Sisulu University (WSU).

Mani, who was 27 at the time, relied on benefits to cover her tuition and living costs, usually receiving around 1,400 rands (around $100 or £78 back then) every month to spend on food, local paper Herald Live reports.

But then, one morning, she checked her balance only to find that the government’s financial aid scheme had erroneously sent her 14 million rands (around $1 million or £830,000 in 2017).

The 27-year-old wasted no time in treating herself to designer handbags, a new iPhone 7 and gifts for her friends.

Seventy-three days later, and after splashing more than 800,000 rands ($40,000), she was caught after leaving behind a bank receipt at a supermarket.

Samkelo Mqhayi, branch secretary of the South African Students Congress, told Herald Live at the time: “She threw surprise birthday parties for her friends and showered them with expensive gifts and flew them to events where she bought the best seats.

“When the receipt was leaked showing a balance of R13.6 million ($1,050,000) in her account, I called NSFAS [the National Student Financial Aid Scheme] and they checked their records and confirmed that the initial amount was R14 million ($1,080,000).”

Inevitably, she was reported to the police that same year and charged with theft and fraud.

In 2022, Mani, who is a mother-of-two was sentenced to five years in jail; a decision which her lawyer, Asanda Pakade, appealed.

Speaking outside court following the sentencing on 31 March that year, Pakade described the sentence as “shocking”, insisting: “To us, her being found guilty does not make sense.”

He also described how, on the day that the 14 million rands was mistakenly transferred to her account, Mani was “sitting with an empty stomach,” News 24 reports.

He said that at the time of the shock transfer, she “couldn’t even afford to buy a quarter of a loaf of brown bread.”

In a hearing at the East London High Court in Makhanda in 2023, Mani's sentence was suspended on the condition that she not be convicted of fraud or theft during that five-year period.

Instead, she was ordered to complete 576 hours (about three and a half weeks) of unpaid community service and undergo regular counselling and rehabilitative programmes.

Announcing the decision, Judge Sally Collett said: “While it would be undesirable to understate the behaviour of Mani, which was unquestionably the result of conscious and calculated decision-making, it is doubtful whether incarceration would satisfy the interests of justice.”

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