Chiepe family fights for her assets
Mpho Mokwape | Monday October 31, 2022 06:00
It has become public that the family members are divided over the handling of Dr Chiepe’s assets resulting inaccusations of betrayal of trust and self enrichment.
A family member who has taken upon himself to fight for the return of Dr Chiepe’s assets, Monametsi Chiepe has accused the niece and nephew of Dr Chiepe, Sefalana Modisi and Botshabelo Bagwasi respectively of helping themselves to her assets and finances without her consent or knowledge.
In a letter addressed to the pair about misappropriation of properties and financial resources of Dr Chiepe titled Conclusion of the Recovery of Properties and Finances Taken from Dr Chiepe, he accuses Modisi of betraying Dr Chiepe for years by taking her resources and keeping other family members away.
“Since June this year, I have been trying to get Modisi to sit down with the family and work out a framework for the return of Chiepe’s properties that have been secretly taken by Modisi and transferred to herself or her companies without Dr. Chiepe’s knowledge.
These involve house number 2528 Extension 9, Gaborone and House number 15571, Extension 44, Gaborone. This is after extensive investigations by Violet Asem (her daughter) and me. Asem lives in the USA and her absence was opportunistically and maliciously exploited to this end. This revelation has been a major shock to not only Chiepe, but to the family at large as an unimaginable betrayal of trust and unbecoming conduct,” he said.
He explained that in addition they discovered a carte blanche power of attorney obtained by Modisi from Dr Chiepe, without her knowledge of its true nature. The nephew indicated that this has been used to get full control of Dr Chiepe’s finances and that it was the very power of attorney which has been used to work against the interests of Dr Chiepe on several fronts.
He also pointed out that it had become evident that Modisi has for decades used Dr Chiepe’s assets to continuously raise a significant number of loans for herself or her companies or those in which she has interest, some of which were serviced using Dr. Chiepe’s finances and rental income that was due to her while strategically keeping other nephews of Dr Chiepe compromised and literally morally disabled to stand in her way.
Monametsi also accused Bagwasi of playing a significant part in the convoluted set of mechanisms at the early stages relating to House number 2528, which ultimately empowered and emboldened Modisi to attain control and effectively give herself the house. He said Modisi has ensured through deceit that she formed a Trust that hijacked the mandate given to him by Dr Chiepe to advance her charity goals of giving back to the society by supporting the underprivileged as she knew that the actualization of her mandate would expose the theft of the properties and financial resources.
“She expedited the formation of the heist-enabling foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic when it was agreed that I stay away from Dr Chiepe to minimize her exposure to the COVID virus as a person falling within the high-risk category. This Trust was populated with young unsuspecting adults comprising her daughter, daughter of a cousin and three other non-family members.
These are people who revere her and would not have the inclination or will to stand in her way. She flung it as far away and out of reach of the family as she could master and yet control it at the same time,” he emphasized.
Monametsi noted that despite Dr. Chiepe’s prudent provision for her retirement, she has been deprived of the financial freedom to enjoy the fruits of her labour and her retirement while being manipulated by a niece and nephew that she had placed so much trust in and that the whole thing her a circumstantial hostage who over time became distant from an extended family she yearned to interact with.
He further said the gross violation of Dr Chiepe’ rights went as far as being labeled of unsound mind by the pair after obtaining a court order which was later received through the help of attorneys such as advocate Sidney Pilane and senior counsel Dutch Leburu on her behalf.
Subsequently he has issued a letter of demand to Modisi and Bagwasi to avail themselves to advocate Pilane, within the next seven calendar days to conclude written and signed agreements as to how and when the return of Dr Chiepe’s assets will be achieved or actualized. Also he wants Modisi to account since there are several companies and investments associated with her that have a link to the loans and other finances siphoned from Dr Chiepe.