A former financial administrator at Kathu High School in the Northern Cape has been arrested for allegedly embezzling R4.6 million from the school.
The 43-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) ’s Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, assisted by members of the Serious Organised Crime Unit. She was arrested at her home in Khawula and taken into police custody at local police station.
She faces charges of fraud, forgery and uttering.
According to the Hawks Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Tebogo Thebe, the suspect is accused of siphoning millions of rands from the school’s accounts while serving as its financial administrator.
Thebe said the investigators allege that she opened private bank accounts into which school funds were unlawfully diverted. The money allegedly stolen included school fees and donor funding earmarked for the payment of School Governing Body teachers’ salaries.
He said the alleged fraud came to light in October 2025 when an audit uncovered irregularities in the school’s financial records, prompting an investigation.
The Hawks’ investigation further found that the suspect allegedly generated fraudulent invoices in the names of legitimate school suppliers before authorising payments into her own bank account for personal gain.
She is also the suspect of unlawfully paying herself overtime despite the school’s policy prohibiting such payments.
Thebe said the suspect is expected to appear before the Kathu Magistrate’s Court on Friday, where she is expected to apply for bail.
