The CEO of the North West Parks Board, Mothobi Edward Mothobi has been accused of spending R1 million (€62 400) on a ten-minute YouTube promotional video to promote his former girlfriend, Palesa Bodutu, defying the State Security Agency’s warning against appointing a foreign national to a key post, according to City Press.
Staff members raised these allegations, which contain a leaked dossier detailing problems in the management of the province’s wildlife and nature reserves.
Mothobi demanded that R488 000 (€30 400) be paid to Mokgothu Communications for securing the appearance of four celebrities in the ten-minute video, which cost around R760 000 (€47 400), revealed the document.
“The use of celebrities as endorsements has generated positive income for the board,” he said.
The document further revealed that Mothobi had asked that the Africa Travel Channel be paid more for advertising, including just over R306 000 (€19 000) for three more promotional videos.
Gys van der Merwe, the park’s former Finance Head refused to make the payments, as he described them as “irregular expenditure”.
Mothobi then overruled Van der Merwe, instructing another employee to make the payments.
Van der Merwe further labelled the appointments of law firms (for R1 million) for internal disciplinary cases as irregular.
Mothobi defended his decision to outsource, as he said there was a lack of capacity within the board’s legal division and that the selected law firms were chosen from a panel of short-listed service providers.
City Press, however, has seen internal notices of the appointments of at least four law firms that state they were appointed on the recommendation of the CEO.
Mothobi went on to accuse Van der Merwe of having no issue paying white service providers whose contracts began in the early 2000s, with no end date.
“Van der Merwe paid more than R16 million (€1m) to a white-owned game counting company over six years, despite preferential procurement legislation.
"He further failed to bill concessionary amounts due to the board and insisted on writing off amounts owed to the state,” Mothobi said.
Van der Merwe said he was not authorised to sign contracts over R500 000 (€31 200). “That is done by the CEO.”
The document also exposes that Mothobi’s ex-girlfriend, Bodutu, previously a Research Officer who reported to him directly, was recently appointed General Manager for Ecotourism.
Mothobi said if he had not promoted Bodutu, he would have been accused of hindering her progress because he was bitter about their relationship ending, reported News 24.
In addition, the document points out that he promoted his associate, Edward Sekgarametso to Contracts Manager, without being interviewed for the position. He also appointed Sekgarametso’s sister-in-law, who is supposedly a citizen of Botswana, to a senior position, despite the State Security Agency advising that she could only be employed if there was no South African qualified for the position.
