Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe onstage during the press conference for the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at Sandton Convention Center on July 9, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Picture: Jemal Countess / Getty Images for Global Citizen
Mining magnate Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe wants South African authorities to investigate whether a slew of allegations against her, some of which were supported by the Botswana government, were being used in a political conspiracy which she believes could have ended in her being killed.
According to an article in Botswana publication The Voice, a divorce case involving a Botswana intelligence agent saw his estranged wife “expose” a political espionage blueprint supposedly used for this year’s elections in which prominent members and allies of opposition parties would be targeted for “black propaganda” and ultimately “eliminated if necessary”.
Motsepe-Radebe, the wife of former minister Jeff Radebe and whose sister is married to President Cyril Ramaphosa, believes that she was one such target because of the way media has been covering allegations against her, most of which have now been debunked or strongly denied.
The Citizen has seen letters from Absa Bank and Nedbank in which the South African banks confirm the non-existence of the named bank accounts allegedly used to fund “regime change” and which were allegedly linked to the businesswoman. Both letters confirm there were no such bank accounts to which Motsepe-Radebe was purportedly a signatory.
In the letter penned by Nedbank, it was revealed that not only do the alleged account names and numbers not exist, but even the document filed to the Botswana High Court in Gaberone purportedly confirming the existence of these accounts was fake.
Responding to requests to confirm this, Absa declined to comment, citing confidentiality, but a Nedbank spokesperson confirmed that the supposed accounts named in the affidavit as registered under the bank did not exist.
“Nedbank notes the affidavit filed on behalf of the State (Botswana) opposing Ms Welheminah Mphoeng Maswabi’s bail application; and in particular, reference to the accounts of Blue Flies (Pty) Ltd and Fire Flies (Pty) Ltd. Nedbank confirms that it does not hold accounts in the name of Blue Flies (Pty) Ltd and Fire Flies (Pty) Ltd.”
Earlier this year, ahead of the recent Botswana elections, Motsepe-Radebe was fingered in a court case involving money laundering in the country, where she was supposedly a co-signatory to three bank accounts holding over $10 billion (R150 billion) which was allegedly stolen from the Bank of Botswana to finance “terrorism and regime change”.
In the affidavit penned by an investigator at Botswana’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crimes, Jako Hubona, it was alleged that she was a co-signatory together with Maswabi in accounts from Nedbank and Absa worth around $20.7 million. The accounts were under the company names Blue Flies Inc Pty (Ltd) and Fire Flies Inc Pty (Ltd), which both banks said were account names that did not exist in their database. Both banks also said the account numbers attached to these names were non-existent.
“Nedbank wrote a letter which I showed you and it says that those accounts don’t exist, they have never had accounts like those and I could never have been a co-signatory on the Nedbank accounts because they were non-existent. Absa also said the same thing. Now those accounts don’t exist. But then, what shocks me is that those intelligence agencies in the affidavit (made these allegations) under oath,” said Motsepe-Radebe.
“Now that I have gone public, because I have been quiet all this time and I spoke for the first time in the week before last, the only thing that they have not done is kill me … Am I safe? I am asking South Africa. Are we, the citizens, safe as innocent people?”
Motsepe-Radebe had yet to file any court papers following her threat to sue the Sunday Standard, the Botswana publication which carried several stories on allegations that Motsepe-Radebe was involved in a conspiracy with former Botswana president Ian Khama to force regime change.
She was also considering approaching local authorities to assist in clearing her name, fearing that her life may be in danger.
“South African government agencies, the police, need to check into this state intelligence. Judge Dennis Davis who was assigned by (former finance minister) Nhlanhla Nene to look into money laundering … I would like him to check into this because I was supposed to be doing money laundering in Botswana to fund terrorism with President Khama.”
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