A former treasurer of a school governing body and a former administrative clerk appeared in court on Tuesday for allegedly stealing nutrition funds of a North West primary school.
Mary Ntombi Mielies, 36, who is the former SGB treasurer and Masilonyana Kenneth Selebalo, 51, a former administrative clerk at Thakadu Primary School, appeared in the Leeudoringstad magistrate's court on Tuesday, charged with 88 counts of theft.
According to Hawks spokesperson Lt Col Tinyiko Mathebula, the pair was arrested on Tuesday morning in Leeudoringstad by members of the Klerksdorp-based serious commercial crime investigation unit after an investigation into allegations of theft of the national school nutrition programme funds at Thakadu Primary School.
Mathebula said the duo was entrusted with managing the funds received from the North West department of education for the nutrition programme. Their duties included ensuring that service providers were paid for delivering groceries.
“In February 2023, one service provider allegedly lodged a complaint with the school after not being paid in full for groceries delivered to the school. An investigation revealed that between 2021 and 2023, Mielies transferred money from the school's bank account, amounting to more than R350,000,00 into her bank account.
“Further probes revealed that Mielies transferred more than R174,000 from her bank account to Selebalo's bank account,” Mathebula said.
He said the two made a brief court appearance and were granted R5,000 bail each.
The acting North West provincial head for priority crime investigation, Brig Silas Munzhedzi, and the director of public prosecutions in North West, Dr Rachel Makhari, lauded the investigation and prosecution teams for ensuring that the accused are brought to book.
The matter was postponed to January 24.
TimesLIVE
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