Probe into murder of Free State anti-fraud clerk runs cold

The circumstances surrounding the murder of Seipati Lechoano – the Mangaung Metro employee whose decomposing body was found in the boot of her car parked at the metro’s Bloemfontein headquarters on Christmas Eve in 2018 – remains shrouded in mystery.

It has been over two years since the murder of the clerk who was stationed in the troubled metro’s anti-fraud division and very little is known about what happened to her from the time she went missing on 19 December 2018, until her decomposing body was discovered with her hands and feet tied up five days later.

LECHOANO LAST SEEN ON 19 DECEMBER 2018

Lechoano was last seen alive on 19 December 2018 at around 7:30 by her family in Bloemfontein. They informed authorities that she was headed to the Bram Fischer building, which is the Metro’s headquarters for work.

The first set of autopsy results were found to be inconclusive and the body underwent further testing to determine the cause of death. The cause of death remains unknown at this stage.

The former Mangaung Metropolitan Mayor, Olly Mlamleli is reported telling media in 2019, that the municipality availed surveillance footage of the basement and the building to authorities and was thus cooperating with the investigation. Park Road Police cluster commander, Brigadier Kgothatso Ramokotjo, later said the footage was of no use to the investigation as it did not actually show what happened in that basement. He is quoted as saying the case is complex and could take as long as 15 years.

LECHOANO’S ROLE IN THE ANTI-FRAUD DIVISION

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, which includes Bloemfontein, Thaba’ Nchu, Dewetsdorp and Botshabelo amongst others has in previous media reports, explained that Lechoano was a clerk in the metro’s anti-fraud division, therefore dismissing allegations that her murder was linked to alleged corruption and maladministration she may have been investigating at the municipality.

Mangaung was placed under administration a year ago, following Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo’s call for Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela’s intervention. It is the only metro in the country to be placed under administration.

The call for intervention came whilst Mangaung was reeling from two downgrades by credit rating agency Moody’s, which was deemed to be a reflection of the municipality’s weak and declining liquidity position and meant there was a high risk the municipality would not be able to fulfil its obligations. This was evidenced by Bloem Water dragging the metro to the Free State High Court for its mammoth water bill, in addition to the permanent closure of the Bloem Zoo in early 2020.

In August 2020, Mlamleli was ousted in her third no-confidence vote. The first failed attempt at removing Mlamleli was proposed by the EFF in 2018, while the DA submitted the second attempt. Both of these were not by secret ballot – an issue that was raised by opposition parties. The DA’s Mokgadi Kganakga said at the time that 31 councillors voted for her removal while 28 against and 8 spoilt their votes. Kganakga lauded Mlamleli’s removal as she saw her as the source of the metro’s increasing debt to various service providers to the tune of roughly R 6.5 billion.