After being crowned the My Star 2010 competition winner, jovial and lively Kgalalelo Abotseng believed that it was a dream come true for her as she has always wanted to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
It was, however, the beginning of misery.
The stardom package for the winner included a recording contract in London before pursuing her studies, a scholarship worth P100 000 from Collegium Educational Publishers at Cape Audio College, and a cash prize of P25 000 from Mascom.
It all started during her trip to London with show owner and director, Keabetswe ‘Master D’ Sesinyi.
Abotseng enquired about their place of stay.
“Master D told me not to be troubled about accommodation as he had a house in London,” she said. “I then took it easy.”
She continued: “Upon our arrival, the story changed from “I have a house” to “we will be staying at a Jamaican friend’s house. Mike, Master D’s Jamaican friend, had a filthy house; to my understanding, he had thrown a party the previous night, hence I was told to sleep at the servant’s quarters. We then decided to check into a hotel. The following day, Master D told me we had to check out as it was expensive to stay in a hotel for the whole two weeks while in London. Startled by the whole situation, one Motswana lady named Eva Nakedi, came to my rescue and provided me with accommodation but after coming back to Botswana I was informed that she is an illegal immigrant in London,” Abotseng revealed.
In a telephone interview with Sesinyi, he said, “If at all Kgalalelo was ill-treated in London, why did she not state her grievances to the relevant people when we came back from London rather than having to wait for a year. Had it not been for My Star, she wouldn’t be where she is right now; her motive is to paint a bad picture about the show to other competitors.”
Back in Botswana, Abotseng went to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to share with them the type of treatment she received while in London; sadly she waited in vain for them to contact her.
At the beginning of 2011, Abotseng started preparing herself as she had to leave for Cape Town to pursue her studies in Sound Engineering.
A few days before leaving, an article was published in one of the local newspapers regarding the accreditation of the same school she was going to.
“I had no knowledge about the article, Soso Mweendo, CEO of Collegium Educational Publishers called and told me about it,” Abotseng said. “She promised to call me back since she wanted to make a few calls in confirmation of the school’s accreditation. Indeed, she called me back and gave me a go ahead.”
Trusting that in her position, Mweendo would not flush money down the drain and sponsor anyone in a school that is not accredited, Kgalalelo stated that she went ahead.
It was when she went to collect her allowance at Absa Bank in South Africa that she was told that the school she was attending was not accredited. This was imparted to her after one of the bank assistants confirmed about the school, thus she was not recognised as a student.
Sesinyi stated that the school was in the process of accreditation when Abotseng was still in South Africa and believes that everything is now under control but now says he is surprised to see Kgalalelo back in the country.
He stated that it was the best school ever.
“No one is ever going to stop my initiative of trying to help others, the more they try to pull me down, the more they are giving me power, I am still going to help others to succeed in building their future,” said Sesinyi.
Questioned on what action she has taken, Abotseng said that Attorney Duma Boko is handling the case.
