Image: Eugene Coetzee
Portia "Pankie" Sizani, the wife of former ANC Chief Whip and SA's ambassador to Germany, Stone Sizani, has been found guilty on 15 counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court.
Sizani, a former Early Childhood Development district co-ordinator for the Eastern Cape education department, siphoned off more than R1.2m after she created "ghost teachers" and pocketed their salaries between 2009 and 2010.
During the trial, a litany of state witnesses told the court that assumption of duty forms had been completed and signed off by Sizani for teachers to take up positions at various schools in and around Port Elizabeth.
According to the state, Sizani had signed off at least 16 assumption of duty forms before sending them to the department of education’s human resources department and then the finance department for payment.