South African student blows $1.3 million mistakenly deposited in her bank account, now she fears for her life

The money was mistakenly paid into her account, she saw it, made no inquiry but went on a spending spree with her friends and in 73 day, she had splurged $61,250. If you were in her position what would you do?

A South African student, Sibongile Mani made headlines around the world this week when she blew up the $1.3 million mistakenly deposited into her bank account in error by the company that hands out student funding, on clothes, partying and a new phone and now she said she is “fearing for her life” and regrets using the money on Facebook.

In June, Mani a second-year student at the Walter Sisulu University, in the Eastern Cape region was supposed to receive 1,400-rand ($135) monthly food allowance but got 14 million rand (around $1.35 million) instead.

She had already spent nearly 800,000 rand ($61,250) of the money before a fellow student alerted authorities to the error and the university blocked her account. She will now have to pay back all the money she spent.

The error was only discovered on Monday after the matter was reported to us by another student, the university spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said.

She is liable for the amount that she has already spent, as part of our agreement with students who take out loans, said Tukwayo.

Mani then decided to deactivate her Facebook account and created a Facebook page where she can receive advice from people on what to do.

She has however expressed her fears on how she could repay the money.

Her page has been inundated with comments with some saying she is an “innocent angel” and others saying she should not have spent money that didn’t belong to her.

The rest of the excess cash has been has been taken back from her account, while the university probes how the mistake occurred.

How long could it take her to repay R818‚000?