Free State premier, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae’s spin doctor, Matshidiso Setai, could find herself in trouble for alleged ‘forgery and fraud’ after she had allegedly used the name of the acting provincial director-general (DG), Dr Mafole Mokalobe to source funds from the department of education in the province.
This comes after the letter that was purportedly written by Mokalobe to the HOD of education, Advocate Tsoarelo Malakoane requesting funds from the department to support a Content Creators Colloquium event that was held on 3 – 5 September in Bloemfontein.
Setai’s forged letter raised eyebrows inside the provincial government run by the ANC.
Insiders claim that the letter in question was written a fortnight ago to the department.
Not my handwriting
Mokalobe on Friday told Sunday World that he did not write this specific letter to Malakoane.
“I didn’t write any letter to Advocate Malakoane, and I distance myself from such things as I didn’t do anything wrong. Whoever wrote the letter and used my name should come forward and explain why they claim I wrote it,” said Mokalobe.
Mokalobe did, in fact, write the initial letter to the department, signed on 25 June, for the same event, which was billed for 30 July to 1 August 2025.
It did not take place then but was postponed to a later date.
In the letter, Mokalobe, writing to “various potential partners”, asks for “in-kind support” and asks the potential contributors for such help as “any other goods or services that would enhance the success of the colloquium”.
At the time the second letter was dispatched – reaching the department on September 3, the day the event started, Mokalobe was no longer the acting Director-General in the Premier’s office.
Sources claimed that Setai resorted to the forgery after she had approached the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the Premier’s office, Kgopotso Moahloli to make funds available for the event. Moahloli turned her down.
“After she was told by the CFO that she wouldn’t be getting any money from the Premier’s office, Setai wrote a letter herself as if it was written by Dr Mokalobe, and gave it to the officials at the department of education,” said the insider.
First request entertained
However, Howard Ndaba, the spokesperson of the department of education, was quick to point out that Setai’s correspondence came after Mokalobe had initially signed a request which he sent to Malakoane asking for support for the same event.
“As the department, we need to make it clear that we received a formal letter from Dr Mokalobe on 25 June, where he made a request for funds and our HOD, Advocate Malakoane, had a discussion with him on how the matter will be facilitated. As for the second letter that surfaced last week with no signatures, it was sent by the office of Ms Setai to our department,” said Ndaba.
It was not clear why Setai had to send the second letter which specifically asked the department “to incur cost (sic) for videography and photography during the Digital Contant (sic) Creators Colloquium”.
On Friday, Setai was asked about her letter in a WhatsApp group called Free State Patriots, which scoffed at the bad grammar used. She responded: “I am tempted to comment…unfortunately I can’t for now.”
Contacted for comment by the Sunday World, Setai went ballistics, besmirching both the character of this reporter and the newspaper.
She did not respond to the questions posed specifically about her forged letter.
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