By Botho Molosankwe
A day before appearing in court on multimillion-rand fraud charges, former Lesedi FM DJ Thuso Motaung had his assets - including his late mother's tombstone - attached by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Motaung and his wife Mamontha, also a former DJ, and their business associate, Joshua Ramme, were due to appear at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
The state alleges that the three defrauded the SABC - the couple's employer - of R32-million over a period of three years through a series of intricate business transactions involving their six privately owned companies.
Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) officials arrived at the couple's plush home in Bloemfontein as they were preparing to transport their children to school around 6am on Thursday.
The officials seized couches, a Land Rover and a BMW 1 series, but the family were allowed to keep another Volvo for their personal use.
Advocate Clive Pillay, regional head of the AFU in Gauteng, said the unit seized Motaung's other houses in Johannesburg (in Bassonia Rock and Soweto's Diepkloof Extension) and Cape Town, and attached interests in companies and bank accounts.
Pillay said the total estimated value of the assets confiscated was R15-million.
"The assets were seized because of allegations that he acquired them from the proceeds of the crime with which he has been charged," he said.
Speaking from his Bloemfontein home on Thursday, Motaung said his children were traumatised by seeing the police marching into the house early in the morning. He said his youngest daughter, who is 6, was confused.
"She asked her mother innocently: 'Mommy, are you the one being arrested or me?' I just broke down and cried. It was heartbreaking to hear my child ask that," Motaung told The Star, adding that he and his wife had to beg the police to allow them to drive their children to school.
"But the police accompanied the children to school. As my wife was driving, one officer was at the back with the children.
"The most hurtful thing they did was to go to my mother's grave and attach the tombstone. I don't know how my mother is involved in this," said Motaung.
"The police have no respect. I am going to my mother's grave and lie on it, then ask for her forgiveness for what happened today."
Motaung's lawyer, Zola Majavu, claimed on Thursday that neither of them were aware of the court order.
"He called me early in the morning to tell me that there were police at his house. I drove there but there was not much I could do," Majavu said.
"The family are devastated, but the return date - when Motaung will be afforded the opportunity to respond to the court order - is on May 9."
But Pillay said he had obtained the court order last Thursday and they had to do a lot of co-ordination because of the many properties and bank accounts that Motaung has.