A STUDENT was mistakenly given £850,000 instead of £85 to help her get through university and spent 73 days on a wild spending spree.
Sibongile Mani, 32, was given a staggering 10,000 times the amount she was supposed to get for a food grant in what she called “a gift from God”.
Sibongile Mani, 32, was accidentally sent 10,000 times her usual amount of university food grant and splashed the cash straight away
The student in South Africa spent the money on new outfits, iPhones for her and her friends, a change in hairstyle and a lot of partying
Mani relied on benefits to support her university degree but was left with a very tricky question after seeing the extra zeros in her account.
The student was stuck between admitting to the embarrassing mistake she’d profited from or splashing the cash and having a wild time.
After waking up as a millionaire, Sibongile decided to put the money towards a good cause – herself.
With 14million rands in her account the woman went on a spending spree and quickly discovered she might be one of South Africa’s richest students.
Not one to miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play the rich and wealthy, Sibongile ditched her shabby wardrobe for new flashy designer outfits and bought her whole friend group the latest iPhones.
Feeling on top of the world she then swapped her cheap cornrow hairstyle for a mega overhaul with £200-a-time Peruvian weaves.
With her fresh new look she had to go out and show off the expensive frock and garms.
Buying bottles of scotch in luxury spots and sipping on ice cold beers at her university bar at Mthatha, Eastern Cape, she partied the night away and flexed her lavish new lifestyle to the whole school.
The spending continued for 73 days as Sibongile grew her wardrobe and friend group through impressive and generous buys.
Managing to blow a whopping £666 a day, she was spending more than 16 times the average daily wage in South Africa.
This came with some unhappy eyebrows being raised as the gig was shortly up.
She got reported to the aid scheme who had originally given her the huge fortune, after leaving a simple receipt behind at a shop that showed off her seemingly endless riches in the bank.
She was arrested in 2017 and charged with theft and fraud, before being sentenced to 5 years in prison last year.
Just £50,000 of her cash was spent before Sibongile was ultimately caught in the act after 10 weeks.
After hearing the outcome of her quick Kylie Jenner style spending she took to her personal blog to write down her feelings.
She wrote: “What I am facing is not fair at all. The money I got in my account back then I spent it without thinking twice because God doesn’t give his gifts by hand only.
“I thought it was miracle money. If only I knew at the time it would end like this.
“I am writing this with a sad heart. I will stay strong until I leave prison although it will be hard.
Her lawyer Mr Asanda Pakade appealed the final decision based on the fact Mani wasn’t a danger to society, accidentally got the money given to her, and didn’t need to be in an already overcrowded prison system.
He continued noting the National Student Financial Aid Scheme hadn’t even noticed such a staggering amount was missing until they were told by someone else.
Appearing at the East London High Court in Makhanda, two judges later agreed to suspend the prison sentence as long as she didn’t commit any form of theft or fraud in the next five years.
The mother-of-two was also told to do 14 weeks of community service and go through counselling but shockingly wasn’t made to pay a single penny back.
Mr Pakade said afterwards: “She is very relieved and very happy that she does not have to go to prison and is looking to put all this behind her and start again.
“She is putting her life – which was left in tatters – back together again and is looking forward to starting afresh and is very grateful that the court took the decisions that it took.”
Sibongile was reported by Samkelo Mqhayi, a branch secretary of the South African Students Congress.
“She was just suddenly spending so much,” Mqhayi said.
“Her supermarket receipt which was leaked showed she had £600,000 in her account and she had been throwing parties for her friends and showering them with gifts without worry.”
A student who saw the lifestyle change in full effect noted the big differences in Sibongile the moment she became rich.
She said: “One moment Sibongile was hard-up with no money and struggling and the next she had a lavish lifestyle with seemingly no bottom to her purse.
“She became very glamorous in expensive dresses with the jewellery and the hand bags and we thought she must have won the Lottery but I suppose in a way I guess she had.
“The student bar was no longer her place to go for cheap drinks but top champagne and whisky clubs were.”
Sibongile has passed her degree since and qualified to become a school teacher.
The fateful receipt that cut short Mani’s 10 weeks of fun as it got reported to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme
Other students at the university were more than happy to help Mani spend the cash but she only managed to get through £50,000 before being caught
Mani is now qualified as a school teacher after graduating from university Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
