Johannesburg - South African businesswoman Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe has again dismissed allegations that she was involved in stealing funds from the Botswana government in a bid to finance a coup in that country ahead of national elections last year.
Motsepe-Radebe enjoys close ties with Botswana’s former president Ian Khama who threw his weight behind the opposition after his fallout with his successor and current president Mokgweetsi Masisi, and is accused of having aided Khama’s alleged plot to have Masisi dislodged from power. “This bizarre allegation was first made in an affidavit deposed to by Jako Hubona, an investigator in Botswana’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, during the bail application by Wilhelmina Maswabi in Botswana. In this affidavit, it is alleged that I am one of the co-signatories on South African bank accounts held at various banks including ABSA and Nedbank owned by two companies: Blue Flies and Fire Flies,” she said.
Motsepe-Radebe said a forensic investigation had already been conducted into the claims and that the two companies did not exist, as well as confirmation by the two banks that the alleged accounts referred to did not exist.