Former COO ‘used funds to repay loan’.
Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng used SABC funds to pay back a R100 000 personal loan he took from his lawyer Zola Majavu’s law firm, Majavu Incorporated.
Motsoeneng also used SABC money to pay the law firm R850 000 in legal fees he incurred in his personal capacity.
These explosive claims were contained in court papers filed by the SABC in the Joburg high court last week to force Motsoeneng and Majavu Incorporated to pay back the money, which totals nearly R1-million. ‘
According to the papers, seen by Sunday World, Motsoeneng acquired the services of Majavu Incorporated to represent him when there were attempts to remove him from his position as COO between 2014 and 2016.
The SABC said Motsoenen paid Majavu Incorporated over R850 000 from the coffers of the public broadcaster even though they represented him in his personal capacity and not as the COO of the financially embattled state-owned company. “The aforementioned legal proceedings were launched against the first defendant in his personal capacity and he opposed the proceedings in his personal capacity. The first defendant had appointed the second defendant to act on his behalf in his personal capacity.
The plaintiff had not and did not instruct the second defendant to act on its behalf. The legal services identified in the annexed invoices were not rendered on behalf of the plaintiff,” read the papers in part.
The SABC also said Motsoeneng paid back a R100 000 loan he took from Majavu Incorporated from its coffers.
“The plaintiff did not authorise the first defendant to obtain such a loan on its behalf,” read the papers. The SABC said the payments
were made in three tranches by its former acting CFO Audrey Raphela. It said Raphela paid over R450 000 to the lawyers on November 25 2016, almost R400 000 ten days later, and just under R400 000 on December 8 that year. Raphela, said the SABC, had not been cited in the lawsuit as separate summons had already been issued against her in the high court in Pretoria. Motsoeneng, who has since become a politician, said he could not comment on the matter as he had not seen the court documents yet.
By Ngwako Malatji
ngwakom@156.38.205.90
