North West chief accused of misusing community's funds

Members of the Bakung Ba Ratheo royal family in Ledig, North West, are calling for the head of chief Solomon Mphuphuthe Monnakgotla following allegations of money that has not been accounted for.

Sowetan saw two letters written to acting North West premier Nono Maloyi and another penned in December when he was MEC for the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), in which the family wanted Monnakgotla's sister, Matseko Maria Monnakgotla, to replace him. In the letters, the family claimed that Monnakgotla squandered money belonging to the community, which owns the land. 

"Kgosi has expanded R83m of community's money in 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial years but there is nothing to show for it in the village," read the letter, adding that another R110m was misused in 2020 while R28m was siphoned off to a law firm linked to the chief.

"We have on numerous occasions made the North West government aware of this but still nothing has been done to correct this injustice," read the letter. 

The family also said they have not seen or heard from Monnakgotla for seven years. They said they don't even know where he stays.

The chief's uncle, Mokgwari Monnakgotla, said they have records of allegations of maladministration, corruption, misuse of power and public funds by the chief's office.

In addition, Mokgwari alleged that R100m was siphoned off to companies belonging to the advisor of the chief, Disele “DJ” Phologane.

"We don’t know where he stays and millions have been spent but there is nothing to prove nor to benefit the community of Ledig,” said Mokgwari.

Two weeks ago, businessman Ben Gumbi was assassinated outside a restaurant in Rustenburg after he served homeowners of Ledig who had allegedly built houses on a property he had earmarked for a R3.2bn smart city development. His business partner, Jacob Ngakane, told Sowetan that chief Monnakgotla had allegedly given the occupiers permission to build without consulting Gumbi and his partners.

The land belongs to Bakubung Ba Ratheo and the occupiers were resisting being evicted. 

Speaking at Gumbi's funeral, Matseko Monnakgotla, the chief's sister, accused her brother of misuse of funds.

“We have never seen our brother up until today. Our farm and our land, the entire land, was sold for R50,000 by my brother and we are not getting any royalties from that transaction. We will get that land back and build the smart city and no one from outside Ledig will benefit. We are fighting and we're fighting on your behalf [referring to the community]," she told mourners. 

Chief director for traditional affairs in the province Simon Ruthuoane said the premier has advised the family of steps to be taken to successfully deal with the matter.

“In or around June 2023 the premier notified the royal family and [chief] of intention to invoke section 59 of the traditional and Khoi-san leadership Act of 2019 (Act 3 of 2019) to deal with the allegations levelled against [the chief],” said Ruthuoane.

“Since then, we’ve been busy with the establishment of the investigative committee as enjoined by the Act. We are at an advanced stage, and they will hear from us in due course,” he said.

Attempts to get comment from Phologane and Monnakgotla were unsuccessful. 

The chief's lawyer, Rakhee Bhoora, told Sowetan: "As you know, attorneys are not allowed to comment on their clients."