Allegations against husband shock mourners as BTV star laid to rest
ROW ROCKS FUNERAL
The controversy surrounding the mysterious death of former BTV sports presenter Mpho Sephuma (nee Maleka) deteriorated into a bitter row as family members claimed that her estranged husband wanted her dead.
The remarks added fuel to the on-going quarrel between the families that had already forced her parents to hold a funeral ceremony without a corpse last Saturday.
Angered over allegations of foul play Mpho’s estranged husband’s family had refused to release her body, instead burying the popular TV personality in a private ceremony in Gaborone.
Family spokesman claims Mpho’s husband wanted her dead Threat to kill case had been set for court hearing
Grieving Maleka family members paying tribute to their daughter sang funeral songs and placed flowers around her father’s grave whilst the place beside him reserved for Mpho at the Sikwane cemetery remained vacant.
In an emotionally charged speech detailing Mpho’s life, family representative, Chiliboy Kgoroba apologised to the gathering of around 100 mourners for the unusual ceremony that he said was meant to lay Mpho’s spirit to rest.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding the occasion Kgoroba told the gathering: “To be here without a corpse might appear like it’s foolishness, but it is not.
We know that the Sephumas have a legal right to bury Mpho.
We also know and understand that according to Setswana culture it was proper that the Sephumas should be the ones in charge of her funeral, but there is a reason why we wanted to lay her to rest in Sikwane.”
There was the briefest of pauses before Kgoroba added – his chilling words triggering a murmur of shock from stunned mourners.
“Her husband Thapelo wanted her dead.”
FUNERAL
Holding out his hands to regain the silence, he continued: “We were told that her funeral will be held at Phomolong in Phakalane tomorrow, but let me take this opportunity to correct those words.
What will happen tomorrow in Phomolong as far as we are concerned will not be a funeral.
“The Sephumas will simply be putting Mpho’s body underground and covering it with dirt.
They will be burying her body and not laying her to rest because there is no way they can lay her to rest when their son wished her dead.
That is why we have seen it fitting to conduct this ceremony to lay her spirit to rest because even the Bible tells us that a person is made of both the spirit and the body.”
Meanwhile in Gaborone it was more drama on Sunday as Mpho’s estranged husband, Thapelo Sephuma and his family buried her body in a private ceremony where the Malekas and Mpho’s teenage daughter were conspicuously absent.
A message read on behalf of her husband at the Phakalane funeral attended by a limited number of people said: “It is only the two of us who know that in the last four weeks we were planning to get back together.”
TENSION
Mpho, 39, was found dead in her house in Phase 4 two weeks ago in an incident that sparked tension between the two families as rumours that the small screen queen could have been murdered started spreading like veldt fire.
The tension deteriorated into a fully-fledged power struggle over the corpse after The Voice newspaper last week revealed that the Malekas had reported their suspicions to the police.
They had initially demanded to have an independent coroner present during the post-mortem, but later decided to put their trust in a government pathologist after advice from doctors.
Following the Voice story the Sephumas insisted that the two families institute a joint lawsuit against the paper for publishing the article headlined ‘Foul Play?’ which they found offensive.
Relating details of the background to the row Kgoroba told mourners in Sikwane that “On Thursday the Sephuma’s demanded that we refute the article that appeared in The Voice concerning Mpho’s death, and that we should agree in writing that we will share the costs in suing the paper.
They also demanded that we write and sign that we do not suspect any foul play in Mpho’s mysterious death.”
Kgoroba further revealed that after refusing to agree to the demands of the Sephuma’s representative Reuben Kamushinda, he informed them that the family had reversed their initial decision to let the Malekas bury Mpho in her home village.
Instead they decided to conduct a private funeral in Phakalane.
Explaining why they couldn’t agree to the Sephuma’s demands Kgoroba said: “There was no way we could agree to write a letter stating that we do not suspect foul play when we were the ones who reported our suspicions to the police.
Instead we told the Sephumas in clear terms that although we had nothing to do with The Voice article, there was no way we would agree to sue that paper when we don’t see the need to do so.”
MURDER
Fuelling even deeper controversy Kgoroba further told shocked mourners of an earlier incident involving Mpho’s husband, Thapelo Sephuma.
“Thapelo called Mpho’s mother last year October informing her that he was going to kill Mpho and I remember there was one time he reported a fake case implicating her in murder threats against him at the G-West police station.
He had a big knife wound on his hand and lied to the police that he was cut while catching a knife that Mpho was trying to stab him with.
He later withdrew the case and confessed to having cut himself. How do we trust such a person?” Kgoroba asked.
The Voice has since established that a threat to kill case was registered to go to court in October 2012, but was later withdrawn.
Results of the post mortem are expected for release over the next two weeks – meanwhile police investigations are continuing.
Thapelo Sephuma refused to comment both on the comments from the Malekas and on the incident in general.
Side bar story
MPHO DEATH THREATS
“We suspect Mpho did not die a natural death. It’s just our suspicions and we have the right to express those suspicions to the police and that is why we told the police that we wanted a forensic autopsy to establish whether her death was from natural causes or not.
“On Sunday when my aunt (Mpho’s mother) arrived at the funeral house in Gaborone she didn’t collapse and weep uncontrollably as we had imagined she would because she had already dealt with the loss last year.
She said: “To me my child died in October 2012.
“I cried for 11 days and mourned her after I got death threats from her husband.
When I finished crying I accepted that my daughter was gone. It was only a matter of time. She was a moving corpse as far as I was concerned.”
ROW-ROCKS-FUNERAL
Can The Voice please STOP their pathetic attempt at sensationalizing this story. Especially because you are not giving people the real damn story.
@Coco, What is the real damn story?
Busy lying to people alleging that the deceased was happy and healthy! Spare us the melodrama. I’m not a tabloid. It is not my business to broadcast people’s business. That’s The Voice’s job!
coco, wa reng? wa re bothata bo ha kae re bo utlwe?
re bolele the real damn story like Ty_M said because you cant argue without explanation.a re utlwe…sa gago story ke sefe because obviously when the voice go public with teh story they have done their research. if they ask for a comment and no one is willing to set anything straight they go on with what they already have, when you are ready to talk you can go ahead and say your true story darling…
Yes u r right, you are not a tabloid, so stop poking your nose and leave the voice to it’s work (as a tabloid)…ha o ne o rile ga o journalist bogolo not a tabloid.do you know what a tabloid is? ga gona motho o ka nnang tabloid, o seka wa tlhola o akgela o se sure..stop sekgoanyana sa mo strateng…o roba lengwe la matshego a 2016 gape o diga serite sa banana..we are suppose to be well informed..waitseee..ija!
Dilo tsa bahumi ba selefatshe, what is private ceremony fa re boloka motho? Phakalane? Gompieno motho o bolokwa ba ga bone ba seo le bana ba gagwe tota. Ao bathong! Re ta itse jang gore le bolokile ene? The killer if at all ke mongwe le ene o tsile go bolawa ke boswagadi very fast. RIP
RIP Poster, God is gr8 fa ele khumo yone re a go swa rotlhe & under the ground we shall be equal, private or public funeral alike.
justice wil be served ko modimong
RIP Mpho
Yes Kutlwano u a right,justice will be served ko Modimong,no one knows the truth except Jesus Christ,if is true she is some how murdered,sephiri 1day se tlaatswa batho ba jewa ke dibe,wena! o bone mang mo botshelong yo a leng normal go mpieno a bolaile motho,if not dead is mad
O bona motho o nale serite le o ka dira jang sengwenyana sone se a go utlwala.RIP Mpho o ta sekelwa ke Modimo
Nnyaa,Jan_tlou,its not only jesus who knows the truth,mongwe gape o a itse,listen to the audio clip,le e bile gotwe ga ke le DIS.Le ta mpolelela ha ditlhotlhomiso di hela,ke ka becha!
i cant just get wat coco s trying 2 say, its either ele lesika la babolai ba go tweng bo sephuma ba kana ele lengwe a matimone a a tsisitseng leso mo lehatsheng. ga go dibeitiwe sengwe le sengwe coco ao. Mpho is my neiba ko sikwane….eish. custration b4 a kalediwa.