Moorosi Tsiane
FORMER Mazenod Book Centre employee, Mathabo Motjotji, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by Senior Resident Magistrate Makhotso Kabi for defrauding the Catholic bookshop of M219,249.16.
Motjotji was hauled before court by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) to face charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.
She was acquitted on the corruption and money laundering counts but convicted of fraud.
The Crown, represented by Advocate Mponeng Ranthithi, called seven witnesses, while Motjotji, represented by Advocate Makara, was the sole witness in her defence.
When the case resumed on 21 March 2025, evidence showed that Motjotji, stationed at St Joseph’s Bookshop in Leribe, manipulated the shop’s electronic sales system.
She entered false stock transfers, claiming goods were being sent to the Botha-Bothe and Teyateyaneng book centres — transfers that never took place.
Mazenod Book Centre Managing Director, Father Augustinus Khakhane, testified that Motjotji used her unique system password to carry out the fraud.
All employees, he said, were trained on the system and on the importance of password security.
Father Khakhane became suspicious when St Joseph’s Bookshop began underperforming despite consistently high orders.
“Even during peak sales periods, January to March, they deposited less money or nothing at all,” Magistrate Kabi said.
“I tasked the finance and assistant managers to investigate, and their report confirmed that the accused, along with some colleagues, was defrauding the company.”
Father Khakhane stressed that there was never any agreement allowing Motjotji to sell the bookshop’s property for personal gain.
In her defence, Motjotji claimed that her colleagues could have committed the fraud, saying she sometimes left the system logged in and occasionally shared login credentials with a colleague, Mr Nthethe – a practice she alleged was sanctioned by management. She also claimed she initially had no password and was trained by Nthethe, who saw her login details during orientation.
Delivering judgment this week, Magistrate Kabi said: “Employees entrusted with password-protected systems have a legal duty to safeguard them. This includes logging out, keeping credentials secret, and preventing unauthorised access. In this case, the accused’s own testimony shows she failed to do so.”
The magistrate rejected Motjotji’s explanation, noting that all fraudulent transactions were executed under her login details over a period of about five years.
“The audit trail bearing the accused’s login details suffices for this court to conclude that those false invoices were made by her. The Crown proved that the false transactions constituted fraud, the stock never reached its destination, and the employer suffered loss.”
Motjotji was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment without the option of a fine, with half the term suspended.