Mokgethi Out Of Time

The granddaughter of the late Abdul Joseph, Dawn Masenya says she is still discussing with her attorney on the way forward since the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Annah Mokgethi has failed to honour a court order.

The court order had given Mokgethi 30 days to account or answer to what happened to the late Abdul Joseph’s multimillion pula estate. The 30 working days elapsed last week Friday.

“The attorney will advise me on the matter on whether to apply for contempt of court or not. I hope this week we will have mapped the way forward,” she said.

This was after the Court of Appeal dismissed Mokgethi’s application to reverse a High Court decision compelling her to give proper accounting records of Joseph’s estate. The said estate is a subject of an intense court battle between Joseph’s alleged beneficiaries.

The surviving granddaughter of the late Joseph, whose estate is a subject of a court battle between the minister and Joseph’s children, has accused the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) of ignoring her complaints about the politician’s conduct. In a letter dated September 13, 2017, which she wrote from the United States of America where she is based, she accused Mokgethi of “forging my signature in a transfer document (my grandfather had gifted me a small farm)”. “I was not in the county on the date of the signatures. The police department and the Law Society of Botswana have not responded to my request to take action against Mokgethi,” said the letter Masenya had written to the LSB.

She added: “In September 2017, I wrote a letter to yourselves with five attachments to which there is yet to be a response. The attorney‘s integrity has been put into disrepute and the issues must be promptly resolved to give effect to the judgement. I cannot help but I am concerned that the LSB is protecting its members against legitimate and pressing complaints.” Masenya had also complained that, “the attorney’s acts were based on blatant and gross dishonesty to attempt to evade the ultimate findings of the Court of Appeal”.

According to court records, Joseph died on July 7, 2012, and Mokgethi was soon thereafter issued with a letter of administration of his estate. Joseph had drawn up a will about two years before his demise. This was executed by Mokgethi who was his attorney and was also named therein as the executrix of his estate.

Efforts to get hold of Mokgethi were not successful as she was not answering her mobile phone.