Zimbabwean woman sentenced for stealing tithe, offering money in SA

Zimbabwean woman sentenced to three years for theft. Photo: NPA/ Seventh-Day Adventist church (Facebook).
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A Zimbabwean woman Lady Memory Mutsika was sentenced to three years of direct imprisonment for stealing from the church.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced the 43-year-old from Zimbabwe to 3 years of direct imprisonment for 128 counts of theft.

“Mutsika was a church treasurer of the Pretoria City Seventh-Day Adventist church.”

Lumka

According to Lumka, her responsibilities included transferring tithe and offering money deposited to the church account, to the Northern Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

During a period of 4 years from 2012 to 2015, Mutsika transferred more than R800 000 of the money received from the tithe and offerings to her bank account and for her personal use.

Pretoria Seventh-Day Adventist Church loses R800 000 to a greedy Zimbabwean treasury. Photo: Seventh-Day Adventist Church/ web
Pretoria Seventh-Day Adventist Church loses R800 000 to a greedy Zimbabwean treasury. Photo: Seventh-Day Adventist Church/ web

“In court, she pleaded guilty to the charges and asked for a non-custodial sentence to pay the church back the money over five years. However, the state argued that Mutsika always indicated her willingness to pay back the money and has not paid back a single cent since March 2022, after she was convicted,” Lumka detailed.

The magistrate agreed with the state and said Mutsika showed no remorse.
“She 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,” Lumka relayed the findings.

She says the Magistrate 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. – The Southern Africa