Friday, 27 January 2012

Post Office supervisor jailed for fraud

A Post Office supervisor who misappropriated about R95 000 ‘from the poorest of the poor’ was this week sentenced to an effective three years imprisonment. Tembelihle Princess Sithole (33), a supervisor at the Melmoth Post Office, committed 31 counts of fraud. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. She used her authorisation powers and password to access Post Office savings accounts and withdraw money. And she used them again to cover her tracks, putting money temporarily into accounts when the account holders were checking on balances.

Her fraud was discovered only when an account holder went to the Empangeni branch and was told there was no money in the account. Court delays were caused by the accused changing her defence attorney, and the trial was argued over a period of two years by prosecutor Andre de Nysschen. He told the court that most of the victims were receiving grants. ‘They were the poorest of the poor,’ he said. One victim was a handicapped child whose grandmother had diligently saved grants to send the child to a specialist school. The Post Office has undertaken to reimburse the victims.

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