Joburg Charity Rocked by R17m Fraud Scandal Involving Zim Accountant
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A Zimbabwean accountant finds himself at the center of a massive fraud scandal, accused of siphoning more than R17 million from his former employer, the Johannesburg-based non-profit Education and Training Unit (ETU). The alleged theft, spanning six years, has sent shockwaves through the organization dedicated to community upliftment.
Revelations of the staggering fraud surfaced as the Education and Training Unit (ETU) took legal action in the North Gauteng High Court, aiming to recover losses by pursuing the sequestration of their former accountant, Edward Mwanandimai.
Edward Mwanandimai, a qualified member of the UK’s Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, stands accused of misappropriating over R17 million from the non-profit organization. The shocking discovery was made only after his resignation in May 2020, leaving the company reeling from the betrayal.
Between July 2014 and May 2020, Edward Mwanandimai was employed by the Education and Training Unit (ETU), an organization dedicated to promoting democracy and development across South Africa and the Southern African region. However, his tenure ended in scandal when it was uncovered that he had allegedly diverted substantial funds during his time with the organisation.
The Education and Training Unit (ETU) revealed that in September 2020, Edward Mwanandimai admitted to embezzling approximately R6.8 million. He reportedly signed an acknowledgment of debt and repaid the stolen amount, shedding light on just a fraction of the alleged misappropriation.
It wasn’t long before the ETU uncovered a shocking truth—Edward Mwanandimai had underplayed the extent of his theft. The true amount he had stolen was far greater than the R6.8 million he had confessed to, with the total now surpassing R17.1 million.
In court, it was revealed that Mwanandimai not only confessed to owing nearly R6.8 million in debt, but also acknowledged that the amount he had stolen far exceeded the reported figure, adding another layer of deceit to the case.
After a thorough reconciliation of the stolen funds and the repayment of R7.1 million, the total debt owed by Mwanandimai now soared to just over R11 million, a staggering figure that exposed the full scale of his misappropriation.
While employed at the ETU, Mwanandimai had access to the organization’s internet banking profile however his permissions were supposed to be limited to viewing the account. He was neither authorized nor given access to make any transactions, yet he allegedly found a way around these restrictions.
However, Mwanandimai managed to manipulate a few of his former colleagues into granting him broader access to the ETU’s internet banking profile, allowing him to not only view the account but also make transactions and upload payments at will.
Mwanandimai’s scheme was deceptively simple yet effective, he didn’t alter the recipient names, only the bank account numbers. As a result, payments meant for the ETU’s legitimate creditors were diverted into his own or his company’s accounts, leaving the rightful recipients in the dark.
In September 2021, Mwanandimai confessed to owing nearly R1.8 million, and the following month he promised to repay R11 million over the next 72 months. However, his admissions were later rendered inadmissible in court, as his attorney had marked the letters as “without prejudice,” rendering them legally irrelevant.
“In my view, the existence of a debt has not been disputed, let alone disputed on bona fide (genuine) and reasonable grounds. The dispute, if any, turns on the extent of the indebtedness,” Judge Soraya Hassim ruled on October 28.
Judge Hassim has issued a provisional court order, known as a rule nisi, requiring Mwanandimai and all relevant parties to explain by next Friday why his estate should not be permanently sequestrated.
The judge also directed that Mwanandimai and all interested parties must justify why the costs of both the ETU’s sequestration application and Mwanandimai’s attempt to have the case dismissed should not be included in the final sequestration costs.
The ETU remained tight-lipped when asked by the Sunday Independent whether criminal charges had been filed against Mwanandimai, who, along with his legal team, was unavailable for comment.
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