A 62-year-old woman from the Eastern Cape has been convicted and sentenced on charges of theft from her employer in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Nonthuthuko Mfengwana was a branch manager of the Post Officer in Mqanduli.
The provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as Hawks), Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the crimes were perpetrated in 2011.
“In 2011, Mfengwana as a branch manager reportedly defrauded the entity by manipulating the Post Office point sales system that she banked the entity’s money whereas all deposits were never reflected in the Post Office bank account. Mfengwana made eight transactions of which the money she received in tranches and added up to the Post Office being prejudiced an amount of R593,000.
“The internal auditing was conducted and picked up some discrepancies and then the matter was reported to the Hawks for more investigation. The investigation revealed that Mfengwana actually admitted that she misappropriated the Post Office funds for personal gain,” Mhlakuvana said.
The branch manager was arrested on April 11, 2011, by members of the Hawks and appeared in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on the same day.
She was granted R2,000 bail.
After several court appearances she was convicted and sentenced in the same court.
The court sentenced Mfengwana to 10 years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on condition she does not commit theft during the period of suspension.
The head of the Hawks in the Eastern Cape, Major General Obed Ngwenya lauded the investigation team for the sterling job done that led to the conviction and sentencing of the former Post Office manager.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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