The acting chief of the Bakgatla Ba Ga Mmanaana, Kgosi Oscar Mosielele, has asked Justice and Correctional Services Minister Nelson Ramaotwana to press the Master of the High Court to investigate a multimillion-pula dispute involving trustees linked to former President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
In a letter dated Sept. 24 and seen by this publication, Mosielele said he was escalating the matter after more than four months without a response or acknowledgment from the Master. He had filed complaints alleging that the trustees of the Ipelego Community Trust had breached, or failed to follow, legal requirements governing trusts.
The trust was founded by Masisi. Its trustees include his sister, Boitumelo Phadi Mmutle; Motlhatlusi Kelobang; Wandipa Pheto; and Mosielele’s older brother, Kgosi Kgabosetso II Mosielele, who chairs the trust.
Mosielele told Ramaotwana that the trustees had failed to submit required reports to the Master, maintain proper accounts and records, and prepare financial statements in accordance with the law.
“The trustees have not acted honestly and in good faith,” Mosielele wrote. He accused them of failing to manage the trust’s property for the benefit of its beneficiaries or in pursuit of its stated purpose, and of running it “like a private trust” despite its status as a community trust.
After reviewing the trust’s file, Mosielele said he convened a meeting of beneficiaries, attended by Kgosi Kgabosetso in his capacity as chair. At the meeting, he said, the chair acknowledged that due process had not been followed and asked for six months to prepare the required documents and reports, with the aim of transferring the trust to the community.
The trustees later submitted a handover report and financial statements and agreed to attend a handover meeting scheduled for March 6, 2026, Mosielele said. But their lawyers subsequently wrote to say the trustees would no longer take part in the proceedings, including the meeting, arguing that they did not comply with the law or the trust deed.
Mosielele also raised questions about the trust’s financial records. Although the notarial deed was registered on Aug. 24, 2016, he said, the statements omit the period from that date through March 31, 2018, without explanation. The accounts also cover a single period – from April 1, 2018, to Nov. 30, 2025 – instead of presenting statements by financial year.
The statements list donation income of 5,847,768 pula, Mosielele wrote, but provide no detail identifying donors or the amount each contributed. He said the trust had also failed to provide bank statements or letters confirming the closure of accounts.
The handover report refers to a feasibility study, a business plan and a master plan, Mosielele said, but none of those documents had been supplied. He argued that assets donated to the trust should be registered in its name, including a Toyota Hilux 2.4 GD that he said had been brought to the trust by the area’s member of Parliament.
Mosielele further alleged that the trustees had made transactions totaling about 259,775.94 pula during a transition period when they had agreed not to undertake major new transactions. That agreement followed a resolution at a Lebatla meeting on July 11, 2025, he said.
