Two teachers of Khulani Bomake Pre-School were arrested and charged with fraud after they allegedly stole E217 000 belonging to the school.
Sibongile Tsabedze (49) of Ngwane Park and Nompumelelo Gama-Dlamini (43) of Madonsa are alleged to have unlawfully received fees from parents on behalf of the school between January and November. Khulani Bomake Pre-School is located at Sterksroom under Ward One in Manzini.
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Sources close to the matter said the offence happened under the nose of the pre-school administration, who initially reportedly thought that parents were not paying fees for their children.
The sources said this was until on November 20, when the school hosted its end-of-year graduation, that the shocking discovery was made. Sources said on the graduation day, the event did not start at the scheduled time, which got parents worried.
It was reported that the pre-school administration later called a number of parents, one after another, into the office where issues of unpaid fees were discussed.
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The sources said the parents were informed that they had outstanding fees that they were expected to settle, reportedly taken aback as they claimed that they had settled paying for their children’s education.
“Some even produced receipts that they received after submitting proof of payment to the school during the course of the year,” stated a source.
the pre-school of E217 000.
The pre-school administration is said to have scrutinised the receipts, which were discovered not to be identical to the ones that were officially used by the school. It was only then that the parents reportedly identified the teachers who had issued the receipts.
Tsabedze and Gama were later arrested and slapped with three charges of fraud, money laundering, and forgery. They appeared before Magistrate Justice Mzizi at the Manzini Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
They are alleged to have unlawfully used the money which they had obtained through fraudulent means, which the charge sheet states, is a violation of the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.
The forgery charge was for allegedly reproducing the Khulani Bomake receipt book for purposes of obtaining the fees, yet they knew that it had been forged.
During their court appearance, the duo was represented by Lawyer Simo Simelane who applied for their bail. Magistrate Mzizi remanded them in custody until December 18, pending setting of their trial date. The two women were admitted to E7 000 bail each.
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