Thutlwe appears in court for fraud, gets whisked to prison for P23 000 debt.
Former Gaborone City Mayor, Kagiso Thutlwe (40), appeared before the Village Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (Sept 24th, 2024), facing six counts of fraud alongside his business associates, Lesego Sello (40) and Khaulane Kgosietsile (46).
The trio is accused of defrauding Norman Modisane out of P31 600 by promising to secure him a government tender, while also attempting to swindle him out of an additional P90 000.
The charges stem from a series of fraudulent transactions between December 2022 and January 2023, where the accused made false promises to Modisane, claiming they would secure him a lucrative tender by supplying the Ministry of Minerals and Energy with PPE clothing and the renovation of Mochudi Customary Court through their companies.
The first count alleges that in December 2022, the three men defrauded Modisane of P8 000 by claiming it was needed for a Botswana Unified Revenue Service tax clearance certificate, when they knew this was false.
During the same month, they allegedly swindled Modisane of P3 600 for a Botswana resident permit, which was another false promise.
On December 29th, 2022, allegedly forged a tender award document, falsely claiming that Modisane’s company, Godimong Consultancy Engineering Botswana, had won a tender from the Ministry of Minerals, Energy, and Water Resources to supply protective clothing.
On that same day, they further allegedly defrauded Modisane of P15 000 by convincing him that his company had been awarded the tender.
On January 11th, 2023, Sello is accused of defrauding Modisane of P5 000, claiming it was for tender documents related to the renovation of the Mochudi Customary Court, which he knew was untrue.
Finally, on January 27th, 2023, the trio allegedly attempted to defraud Modisane of P90 000 by claiming the funds were necessary to finalise a service-level agreement for a non-existent tender with the Ministry of Minerals and Energy.
During the proceedings, defence lawyers asked for the trio’s pleas to be reserved.
The prosecutor did not oppose bail but requested several conditions, including monthly reporting to the Serious Crime offices, avoiding criminal activities, and not contacting state witnesses.
“We believe these are fair and necessary precautions, Your Worship. The bail conditions are straightforward and intended to ensure the defendants’ cooperation with the court,” said the prosecutor.
However, the defence objected to the bail condition prohibiting their clients from being involved in any criminal activities.
“Anyone can be a suspect at any given time, and this condition puts our clients at a significant disadvantage,” argued one of the defence attorneys.
They also requested the removal of the surety condition.
“Some of the people our clients bring failed to qualify as sureties, which only complicates matters,” he said.
Despite the defence’s arguments, the magistrate sided with the prosecution and granted bail under the proposed conditions.
“The conditions are appropriate given the seriousness of the charges,” the magistrate ruled, rejecting the defence’s request to remove the clause about criminal involvement.
The trio was granted bail and will return to court on December 5th.
Meanwhile, for the former mayor, the drama didn’t end in the courtroom as Deputy Sheriffs swiftly swooped in on him to serve a warrant of arrest for civil imprisonment over an unpaid debt of P23 000.
He was whisked away to prison where he will serve a three months civil imprisonment if he does not pay the P23 000 debt.
Sources close to the matter revealed that Thutlwe has been facing increasing financial difficulties, with numerous individuals coming forward with fraud-related claims against him.
“Thutlwe’s troubles are far from over. He’s got a string of unpaid debts and fraud accusations hanging over him, and now the legal noose is tightening,” commented an observer familiar with the case.
