It had been claimed that a mining magnate was mistakenly paid R4 billion and that Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said they would not take any action to recover the money.
ESKOM has distanced itself from a social media post claiming that it paid R4 billion to a businessman by mistake.
The post was written on Facebook in the wake of Walter Sisulu University’s accounting student Sibongile Mani being convicted for theft at the East London Regional Court on Monday.
The post claims that mining magnate Quinton van der Burgh was “mistakenly” paid R4bn and that Eskom’s CEO, Andre de Ruyter, purportedly released a statement saying they would not take any action to recover the money.
The power utility said on Tuesday that its CEO had never made any comments concerning the allegations.
“Eskom would like to distance itself from the allegations contained in the tweet. As previously addressed, there was never any R4 billion paid “by mistake” to anyone. The CEO has never made the comment as alleged in this tweet“.
The Facebook post came after Mani, the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) student who spent more than R800,000 after R14 million was erroneously paid into her account by NSFAS, was found guilty of theft on Monday.
Mani, 31, was convicted of theft when the court found that she unlawfully spent more than R800,000 out of R14 million which had been erroneously paid into her student account.
She spent over R800,000 on alcohol, cigarettes, blankets, clothes for men, jackets, handbags, furniture, beauty products and groceries over a period of two months.
She also reportedly spent the money at 48 retail stores in different towns.
Mani is expected to be sentenced in March and will return to court on March 8 for pre-sentence appearance. She remains out on bail.
