25 Sep 2024

Former Gaborone mayor, Kagiso Thutlwe and two others appeared before Village senior magistrate, Mr Daniel Nkau  on September 24, on four accounts of obtaining by false pretence, one count of forgery and another count of attempt to obtain by false pretence.

Thutlwe appeared together with Lesego Selelo and Khaulane Kgosietsile. 

Particulars of the matter are that in December 2022 the trio, acting together in concert and with intent to defraud, obtained cash amounting to P8 000 from one Norman Mongae on the pretext that the said amount was for payment of a Botswana Unified Revenue Service tax clearance certificate when they in fact knew such was false.

Still about the same date, the trio is said to have again defrauded Mr Mongae cash amounting to P3 600 under a false representation that the funds were for payment of a Botswana resident permit. Mongae is a South Africa citizen.

Thutlwe and his co-accused persons reportedly made a false document on December 29, 2022 purporting it to be a tender award from the Ministry of Minerals and Energy to Mongae’s company, Godimong Consulting Engineering Botswana for the supply and delivery of protective clothing, adding a further count of forgery of an official document, after which they obtained from the same victim, a further amount of P15 000 by falsely pretending to have assisted him to get the said tender.

Selelo is also accused of acting alone on January 11, 2023 to defraud Mongae of P5 000 by falsely representing that the funds were for expenses associated with the collection and purchase of tender documents for the renovation of the Mochudi customary court. The trio are said to have further attempted to sting their victim by defrauding him of a further P90 000 on January 27 2023, falsely informing him that the funds were required prior to the signing of service levels agreement for the tender awarded to his company by the ministry.

The trio were given conditional bail and will appear in court again on December 5. Selelo is a director of Sweetjack PTY (ltd) while Thutlwe is the director of LargeMark PTY (ltd.) Kgosietsile is self employed as a mechanic. Ends