Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Kgosi Kgafela II has won a case in which he was seeking the court to order Wetcliff Thipe Mothulwe, an attorney who has been representing Bakgatla, to disclose how he received millions from Bakgatla tribe.
Kgafela approached North Gauteng High Court requesting the court to order Mothulwe to disclose how he received the money from Bakgatla after it became clear in the audit report that he received R49 million from Bakgatla tribe.
The audit report had revealed that Mothulwe had received 49 Million Rands that was later placed in dispute after he failed to cooperate with auditors.
A lawyer representing Kgafela II and the tribe, David Pheto of MD Pheto Attorneys, stated that Kgafela approached the court after it became clear that Mothulwe failed to account to Bakgatla for money that was paid to him after he billed the tribe.
Pheto stated in an interview that auditors had approached Mothulwe after it became evident that he was unable to articulate some of the items in his bills that were presented to the tribe for payment.
Pheto stated that Mothulwe had also approached the court stating that Kgafela II was not a South African but the court dismissed his argument stating that Kgafela II was a South African resident as he had a South African ID. He said that the case that was brought against him was left to continue before North Gauteng High Court Judge David Stephanus Fourie.
Pheto said that Kgafela and the tribe argument was that some of the items that he billed the tribe for were never articulated but when he approached to explain he failed to cooperate.
Pheto said that Kgafela felt duty bound to approach the courts to force him to account for the money after Mothulwe failed to cooperate and account for money that he received from the tribe.
He explained that Judge Fourie, of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, ruled in favour of Kgafela and the tribe and ordered Mothulwe to account for the money that he was paid for his services that he offered to the tribe.
Mothulwe also stated that the court also ordered that Sheriffs close his trust account at the bank where the money that he received from Bakgatla was put.
He said that the sheriffs had already gone to close the trust account where the R49 million rand had been kept and explained that since they had frozen his bank accounts through the court order, they would also want Mothulwe’s trust account to be audited.
Pheto said that the Bakgatla tribe also intends to take other members of the so-called “Royal Council, who were in support of Kgosi Nyalala, to court. He said that they want to crack a whip on every member who misused Bakgatla tribes.
Kgosi Kgafela II and Kgosi Nyalala are up in arms against each other over the chieftainship of the Bakgatla tribe.
