Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The daughter of the late William Benny Kotsoane is accusing Joyce “Pretenders” Mathae, Free State Premier of playing them.
This follows an article we published on Monday in which we reported the R750 000 spent of the late former MEC’s funeral held on the 5 April 2025 in Botshabelo.
Speaking exclusively to this publication, Mpho Kotsoane expressed her shock at the figures.
“My father passed on the 30 March 2025, I got a call around 02h00.
We were then called into a meeting by Premier Mathae and MEC Mokoena who my father was working for.
In that meeting, they told us the corpse belonged to the state and the funeral would be on Sunday, 6 April 2025.
As a family we had no say as we were told, no consultation at all.
About the change of funeral date she said.
“We were invited to another meeting on Thursday, 3 April 2025, and it’s then we learned the funeral will no no longer on Sunday but on Saturday, and the budget …. R650 000.
“I was asked to send a quote, I sent it and never heard from them since. It was R291 000.”
A copy of the quotation is our possession confirms this.
About news that they had to buy groceries and a sheep she said.
“Yes it’s true, we did not get a cent from them. We had to dig deep into our pockets to buy groceries, electricity and a sheep to welcome our father from Molly’s mortuary around 20h00 on Friday but our father is resting.
In conclusion Kotsoane said Mathae played them.
“I am happy how everything worked out because this is how Premier wanted it, she played us dirty and made sure we fight. She even wanted my father’s girlfriend to hold the flag and I refused. She got herself involved in things that had nothing to do with her.
I was even arrested.
The next thing they come in numbers and even lie in their speeches during the funeral.”
The family promised to share receipts of how much they spent. We will also ask Molly’s funeral if it’s true they were paid three months after the funeral due to tax issues.
We sent questions to Dr Mafole Mokalobe, acting Director General of Free State Provincial Government last week about the costs and procurement of services for this funeral. He has still not responded.
This is a developing story.
If you have news or tips please email news@stepupsanews.co.za or WhatsApp 0685000246
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