East London – A Walter Sisulu University student who made headlines for spending over R800 000 from her meal card had to be whisked away by police from fellow students in East London on Monday night who demanded she account for the debacle.
This after a press conference organised by Sibongile Mani’s Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) turned into a chaos after the student movement was apparently denied the venue by WSU.
Mani made headlines across the globe after an amount of R14 million was “erroneously” deposited into her meal allowance card. By the time this came to the attention of the public and her Intellimali card blocked, Mani had already spent about R818 000 of the money.
Hundreds of WSU students turned up to listen to nervous-looking Mani who kept quiet during the press conference after Pasma told the media she was not ready to speak to the public. This explanation left many WSU students angered.
After a press conference which was held on a pavement just outside WSU’s College Street campus, Pasma leaders shielded Mani away from media and curious students. This is where the chaos started with students bringing traffic to a standstill at East London’s Buffalo and Oxford streets.
A Pasma leader and activist Vusi Mahlangu told Independent Media that Mani was not ready to speak to the public about the matter. “She is not coping ever since the matter became public. This is an innocent student whose privacy has been violated by the university which is supposed to be protecting her,” Mahlangu said.
Mani was eventually saved by police who took her to WSU’s Potsdam campus.
Ilisolezwe
