Government official, Zukiswa Wana (52) has been convicted and sentenced by the East London Regional Court on charges of fraud and money laundering following an intensive investigation and arrest by the East London Serious Corruption Investigation of the Hawks.
Wana was sentenced to five years which was suspended and is ordered to repay R410 000.00 from her pension to compensate for the state loss.
According to the statement issued by Lieutenant Colonel Avele Fumba the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education in Zwelitsha received an internal memo revealing improper payments to two service providers for school hostel catering services.
“The memo reported that payments were made without actual services being rendered and apparently signatures were forged to authorize these transactions. The department identified three irregularly authorized school hostel catering expenditure approval documents, totaling to an amount exceeding R800 000 related to the Cluster C Districts Development and support office,” said Fumba.
Fumba added that Wana was a Personal Assistant in the District Development and Support Office for Cluster C was identified as the person responsible for the fraudulent authorization of these payments.
“The matter was then referred to the Hawks for further investigation which led to her arrest hence conviction on one count of fraud and one count of money laundering.
The Provincial Head for Hawks Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the efforts in ensuring that Wana faced legal consequences.
