SANDF clerk jailed for fraud

2008-08-04 21:14

Pretoria - A senior SA National Defence Force administration clerk was on Monday jailed for five years for fraud involving more than R1m.

The sentence means Zelda Wolmarans, 46, will have to serve at least a sixth of her term before she can be released under correctional supervision.

Wolmarans earlier pleaded guilty to 251 charges of fraud involving about R1,1m in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

The crimes were committed since 1996 until her arrest in April 2006. She was later released on bail of R20 000.

Wolmarans was a civilian working for the SANDF at the reserve force administration section, putting information into the salary system.

Access codes

She used access codes of others to capture false information and approved payments for reserve force members who were not called for duty, paying the money into her own bank account.

In mitigation of sentence, the court heard from clinical psychologist Kobus Truter that Wolmarans had experienced remorse and committed these offences due to a low self-esteem, as she used the money to make herself "acceptable" to others.

Truter said the accused earlier divorced her husband due to his extra-marital affairs. This, and her financial problems, gave her self-esteem a blow.

"The crimes started when she needed money for one of her children's sport. When she wasn't caught out, it became easier, and she later started to use the money for herself," the witness said.

Wolmarans later remarried, but wanted to see to her children's needs at "all costs". She also underwent three plastic surgery operations in an attempt to be "more acceptable".

'You have lost everything'

Magistrate Dawie Jacobs found that Wolmarans made the wrong choices and continued doing so.

She was not remorseful while committing this fraud for 10 years, otherwise she would have stopped, he said.

He said the accused misused her position of trust and taxpayers' money.

However, she did plead guilty, lost her job, had an assets forfeiture order against her of more than R1,1m, and a repetition of her deeds seemed unlikely.

"I think you have learned the lesson. You have lost everything, showing that crime doesn't pay," Jacobs said before sentencing Wolmarans.

- SAPA