When 16-year-old Mpho got involved in a car accident, her whole life changed.
She became brain dead and she received a cash payout meant for her rehabilitation.
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) directly paid her father, Villey Lepatsi, R5.7m for her injuries — despite its own policy that money meant for a child beneficiary should be managed by a curator.
And instead of receiving the continuous medical treatment to mitigate the effects of her injuries, the teen is now at the centre of a tug of war between her father and her dead mother’s siblings, who accuse each other of using her as a cash cow.
Lepatsi, who bought two cars and a house with some of the money, has obtained a protection order against Mpho’s maternal uncle, Darios Mokgosana, and aunt, Beauty Mokgosana, with whom she lives in a shack in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, where she sleeps on a makeshift bed placed on bricks.
A social worker assigned to her case, Mishack Mathekga, wrote in September that the tension is taking its toll on Mpho, who “does not want to take sides as she loves both her father and maternal family”.
Mathekga’s report was commissioned by senior RAF forensic investigator Liezel Brink, who is looking into the payment to Lepatsi. Mathekga recommends that the money, transferred in two tranches in 2016 and 2017, be recovered.
Lepatsi and the RAF will not say how much was paid, but RAF expenditure authorisation forms seen by the Sunday Times suggest Lepatsi received R1.5m in December 2016 and R4.2m in March 2017.
Mpho shares a shack with Beauty and her two children. Their only furniture is an old wardrobe, an empty fridge, and a small table that serves as storage for the family’s few groceries. Darios, who lives in a different shack in the same yard, and Beauty are both unemployed and the family survives on Mpho’s R1,800 disability grant, child support grants for Beauty’s children and whatever money Darios can earn from piece work.
The two claim that since the fatal accident Lepatsi has shown no interest in his daughter beyond taking her to and from school and buying her lunch when she finishes classes.
“Even that food is nothing more than a way to curry favour with her and try to confuse the child while he spends her money on himself, his family and girlfriends,” Darios said.
“It is unacceptable that he can build another house at his home in Limpopo and buy bricks for his girlfriend to build her home while his own child sleeps on bricks. We do not understand how he was given the money when the child did not even stay with him.”
Lepatsi, who lives nearby in the settlement, responded: “They pretend to care about the child, but all they want is money. They have tried for years to drive a wedge between my daughter and I because they want access to the money.
“They’ve refused my attempts to buy a proper bed and even a television set for my child, because I need to be painted as indecent. I often buy groceries for all of them, Beauty’s children, and I pay all school-related expenses for my daughter. I cannot take her to a special-needs school because they are refusing to give me her documents so I can go to apply.”
Lepatsi said he left the house he bought for his daughter in Soshanguve to stay in a backyard shack with his girlfriend to be close to Mpho in Atteridgeville.
Source: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2022-02-20-brain-damaged-teen-at-the-centre-of-family-fight-over-raf-cash/
Content created and supplied by: Dizaldo (via Opera
News )
, . , . () , , , , , , , , . / , and/or . , , and/or , and/or