Limpopo Woman Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail for Stealing R1.6m From Employer, Mzansi Wants a Harsher Sentence

• A Limpopo finance administration manager was slapped with a five-year jail sentence for stealing R1.6m from her employer
• Annelize Holtzhausen siphoned the money by creating fake claims and transferring the funds to the personal accounts of her and her husband
• South Africans are dissatisfied with the sentence and claim the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court should have been harsher

POLOKWANE - A Limpopo woman will spend the foreseeable future behind bars for stealing R1.6 million from her employer.

The Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced 35-year-old Annelize Holtzhausen to five years imprisonment on Thursday, 19 April.

This comes after the Polokwane court found Holtzhausen guilty of 185 counts of theft on 29 May 2022, IOL reported.

Annelize Holtzhausen stole from her employer by creating fake claims

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While working as a financial administration manager at Zandspruit Homeowners Association NPC, Holtzhausen siphoned money by fabricating claims.

The 35-year-old, who was tasked with paying service providers, transferred the money for the fictitious claims from her employer's bank account into her personal account, News24 reported.

Holtzhausen even dragged her husband into her criminal exploits by transferring some of the money to his bank account.

Auditors discover Holtzhausen's fraudulent activities, Polokwane Hawks investigate case

The company became aware of the fraudulent activities after auditors stumbled across them. The auditors swiftly opened a case of fraud against Holtzhausen.

The case was handed over to Polokwane-based Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit.

South Africans believe Annelize Holtzhausen deserves a harsher sentence

Below are some comments:

Pedro Mapelo questioned:

"Five years only?"

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Leon Le Maitre added:

"Not long enough."

Lavender Xavier Otis complained:

"Five years is nothing."

Onikwa Mpumela said:

"Five years only? For stealing R1.6m? I wonder how many for stealing R100k! Community service, maybe."

Thula Gama suggested:

"She will come out and enjoy the money. Give her 10 long years."

Bathobile Mlangeni sentenced to 8 years in prison for stealing R4 million, Mzansi thinks she’ll be out soon

Earlier, Briefly News reported that Bathobile Mlangeni, the woman infamously known for pulling off a R4 million heist while on duty at Mall of Africa in Midrand, Johannesburg, has been given an eight-year sentence.

Mlangeni was a security guard for cash-in-transit heist company SBV when she walked away from her post with black plastic bags full of cash.

According to Daily Sun, the Alexander Magistrate's Court handed down her sentence on Wednesday, 8 March, after she had been on the run for two years.

Source: Briefly News