What would you do with $1 million? For one lucky South African student, that question was really easy to answer.
Sibongile Mani, a 27-year-old Walter Sisulu University student, noticed her usual financial aid stipend of $100 had a few extra zeros behind it. She called the National Students’ Financial Aid Scheme to make sure the amount was correct and they said it was.
According to CNN, officials did not notice the mistake initially and by the time they caught on, she had already spent an estimated $60,000 on various trinkets during a 73-day spending spree. Students told local South African news outlet The Herald Live that Mani came to class wearing expensive brands and purchased new gadgets for her friends.
"She bought an iPhone 7 and clothes for herself and each of her friends," one student told the outlet. "She suddenly appeared at lectures wearing designer clothes and she pimped up her crew of friends."
After the snafu became public, Intellimi, the company responsible for issuing debit cards for financial aid receiving students, took the blame for the mistake.
"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,” Mani wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to Herald Live. “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."
The university has come forth and cleared up misconceptions surrounding the incident. One is that other students who receive financial aid benefits will still receive them.
Since, Mani's account was frozen and the remaining funds were withdrawn, according to university spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo. And the student has been ordered to pay back funds.
There is also a possibility that Intellimi, the company that made the mistake, will take legal action.
“It is very clear that I didn’t make the error, so call WSU and National Students’ Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS),” Mani told The Daily Dispatch.
