Zim woman faces three years for stealing Church funds

Zim woman faces three years for stealing Church funds

Mako Jerera

 

A Zimbabwean woman with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South Africa has been jailed three years for converting church funds to own use.

 

 

Lady Memory Mutsika, 43, had been charged with 128 counts of theft after helping herself to church funds amounting to R800 000 between 2012 and 2015.

 

According to South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as Treasurer of the Pretoria City Adventist Church, Mutsika’s responsibilities included transferring Tithes and Offerings deposited into the local Church account, to the Northern Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

 

NPA spokesperson for Pretoria, Lumka Mahanjana, said that between 2012 and 2015, Mutsika transferred more than R800 000 of the money received from the tithe and offerings to her bank account.

 

 

Mahanjana said Mutsika converted the money to her personal use and pleaded guilty to the charges. She disclosed that Mutsika had asked for a non-custodial sentence to enable her to repay the money over five years.

 

Added Mahanjana:

“However, the State argued that Mutsika always indicated her willingness to pay back the money and had not paid back a single cent since March 2022 after her conviction,” said Mahanjana.

 

“The magistrate agreed with the State and said Mutsika showed no remorse, and that she only stopped stealing not because of her conscience, but because she was caught.”

 

“The church placed her in a position of trust, but she betrayed that trust. He further said that he viewed Mutsika’s willingness to pay back the money, as a bargaining tool and as a ticket to keep her out of prison.

 

“Therefore, a sentence of imprisonment was appropriate and criminal conduct has consequences,” concluded Muhanjana.