Zukiswa Wana (52) has been convicted and sentenced on 1 February 2024 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.
In October 2012, 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 authorise these transactions.
The department identified three (3) irregularly authorised school hostel catering expenditure approval documents, totalling to an amount exceeding R800 000 related to the Cluster C Districts Development and Support office. Wana a Personal Assistant in the District Development and Support Office for Cluster C was identified as the person responsible for the fraudulent authorisation of these payments.
The matter was then referred to the Hawks for further investigation which led to the arrest of Wana hence her conviction on one count of fraud and one count of Money Laundering.
Wana received a 5 year wholly suspended sentence and is ordered to repay R410 000-00 from her pension to compensate for the state loss.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the efforts in ensuring that Wana faced legal consequences.
