NURSE ALLEGES SHE REPORTED STOLEN MONEY TO EX-PM

MBABANE – The Good Shepherd Nursing College lecturer, who allegedly stole E2.3 million from government, says she reported the monthly deposits into her account to former Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini.

Sithembile Gabsile Mhlanga (47) of Matsetsa, in the Lubombo Region, stated that the money was paid as her salary into her account despite her resignation from government in July 2013. She claimed that, apart from the former prime minister, she reported the matter to the Attorney General’s Office and officials in the Treasury Department. She said she intends to repay the money, but disputes that it amounts to the E2 304 329.50 that reflects in her charge sheet.Mhlanga informed the High Court that calculations of the actual amount she is said to have stolen are ongoing, and she estimates it to be slightly over E1 million.

This is contained in her application for bail, which was heard by Judge Zonke Magagula yesterday. The Crown did not oppose the application, and her bail amount was fixed at E100 000. She was ordered to pay E20 000 in cash and the balance in the form of surety. Mhlanga is a former civil servant. She was employed by government as a nurse and was stationed at Mangweni Clinic in northern Hhohho until July 2013, when she resigned, reportedly on constructive dismissal and due to her delicate health condition. She alleged to have been subjected to unfavourable conditions and victimised for taking government to court when she was to be transferred ‘unfairly and maliciously’.

She is currently employed as a lecturer at Good Shepherd Catholic Nursing College. In her bail papers, Mhlanga informed the court that during her time as a civil servant, she was earning E19 800 per month, and her net salary was in the region of E11 000. Her deductions included pay-as-you-earn, which is fixed at 33 per cent. She said after she had tendered her resignation letter in June 2013, she was paid a salary for August 2013. Mhlanga submitted that she took it upon herself to report and enquire with the Treasury Department about the payment of the August 2013 salary, even though she had stopped working for government the previous month.

She alleged that the Treasury Department officials told her that they would inform her by way of a letter detailing a bank account in which she was supposed to deposit the money paid as her August 2013 salary.  However, she said the bank account number was never provided to her.
“It is my humble submission that the salary continued to be paid into my bank account despite my protests, and I did what a reasonable person could do under the circumstances, which was to keep on informing government officials about the irregular salary payment, including the Ministry of Health under secretary, the late Prime Minister Dlamini, and the Office of the Attorney General,” said Mhlanga.

“The under secretary for the Ministry of Health and the late prime minister promised that they would address the matter and provide a bank account for me to deposit the salary payment. I waited for more than two years without using the money in my bank account, but no bank account was provided to me.”

Ministry

She said she approached the Attorney General’s (AG) Office after the office was instructed by the Ministry of Health under secretary to recover the money on behalf of government since it was clear that there was gross negligence on the part of the Treasury Department. Mhlanga said she then confided in the AG’s Office that she ended up using the money. However, she stated that she had a back-up plan of repaying the money with her pension, which she has not yet claimed since the calculation of the money she has to repay is ongoing.

She said the notion that she has to repay the sum of E2 304,329.50 was based on her gross salary, whereas she is supposed to pay back the amount appearing in her net salary, which is the amount that she eventually used, and she estimated it to be slightly above E1 million. She submitted that the AG’s Office would have deposed to a confirmatory affidavit about its mandate from the Ministry of Health, its advice about her pension as repayment and that the matter is currently under negotiation as there was alleged gross negligence on the part of the Treasury Department officials.

“It is, therefore, my humble submission that I was still waiting for the correct figure from the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Treasury Department to arrive at a correct figure, so that I can write a letter to the Pension Fund to use my pension as payment for the irregular salaries that were paid into my bank account after I had resigned. I could even supplement it with my current salary, which is in the region of E33 162.50 per month,” she submitted.

Mhlanga, who is charged with theft, argued that the other element of the offense of theft, which is overpayment, will not be successfully established by the Crown in that even though it will claim that the payment of her salary was as a result of a computer error, she reported to the relevant authorities the continued payment of her salary even after she left her government job. She said she is innocent of the offense. Meanwhile, Mhlanga is facing disciplinary proceedings at her current job, where three charges were preferred against her.

The hearing was supposed to take place yesterday. In the first charge, the lecturer is accused of breaching the institution’s code of ethics and conduct.
This charge relates to a social media post which allegedly included ill-treatment of students by using derogatory language and/or remarks towards students during her lectures. This offense was allegedly committed in October 2024.

In the second charge, Mhlanga is accused of insubordination. It is alleged that on October 29, 2024, acting as a lecturer of Good Shepherd Nursing College, she reportedly refused to carry out an instruction to set the first-semester exam, which instruction was given by her supervisor, the deputy principal of the college. In the last charge, Mhlanga is accused of committing an act of sabotage.

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