CRIME SCENE: Kathu, Northern Cape: A middle-aged former school administrator has been arrested for embezzling R4,6 million of her school’s funds.

The 43-year-old woman faces charges of fraud, forgery and uttering following her arrest by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation and the police’s Serious Organised Crime units.

She was arrested on Thursday morning, 2 July at her place of residence in Kathu, near Kuruman.

The accused, who previously worked as a financial administrator at Kathu High School, allegedly created separate private banking accounts to which school funds were diverted. According to the police financial discrepancies were identified in October 2025 when an audit detected irregularities in the school’s financial records.

The affected funds included school fees and donor funds, which are used to pay School Governing Body (SGB) teachers’ salaries.

The Hawks’ investigation revealed that the accused allegedly created fictitious invoices purporting to be legitimate school suppliers and authorised payments to her private account for her own benefit.

It is further alleged that the accused paid herself overtime despite the school’s policy prohibiting such payments.

The accused will appear before the Kathu Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, Friday, 3 July 2026, for a possible bail application.