government
Mukoni T Ratshitanga
Following another scandal in the Free State government, police are investigating two charges after a jealous husband assaulted his wife in the office of the senior government official he suspected of having an affair with her.
Thandi Molosioa, a deputy director employed at the Department of Public Works in Bloemfontein, denied she had an affair with her head of department, Dr Eugene Mokeyane.
In a report to the director general of the Free State government, she said her husband, who has a “history of chronic jealousy”, had come to her office when she phoned him to say she was working late, kicked open the door, dragged her out and slapped her.
“When we arrived home, he apologised profusely, in tears, stating that my refusal to leave Mokeyane’s office caused him to assault me,” Thandi Molosioa explained. “I am at a loss to understand why allegations of pointing a firearm at [my husband] or any other person arose.
“The existence of an intimate relationship between myself and the head of department is not based on factual evidence. It is rather based on the speculation of [my husband].”
Mokeyane also denied he had an affair with Molosioa. “During July 1997 I had been contacted by Molosioa who advised me that he had a suspicion that I had been having an affair with his wife. On this occasion I invited him to my office where he advised me he suspected two other persons in the department of ‘being after his wife’. He in fact asked me to monitor the situation,” he explained in his report.
Both Mokeyane and Molosioa denied a recent Free State newspaper report that they had been caught “red handed” in an intimate embrace. They intend suing the newspaper.
South African Police Service southern Free State representative Riaan Malan this week confirmed a charge of pointing a firearm had been laid against Mokeyane. However, the Free State attorney general declined to prosecute him.
A charge of assault and threatening to assault had also been laid by Molosioa and Mokeyane. “No one has been charged at this stage,” said Malan. Mokeyane has left the Free State government for a position as chief director in the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in Pretoria.