BREAKING NEWS: Botswana Fights Court Order to Pay Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe R83 Million in Legal Costs
Gaborone/Pretoria – The government of Botswana is contesting a court order requiring it to pay South African mining tycoon Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe approximately R83 million, about $4.7 million, in legal costs linked to a long-running defamation and reputational dispute.
The dispute stems from allegations raised by Botswana’s previous government that connected Motsepe-Radebe to a contested money-laundering and political financing matter. Motsepe-Radebe has consistently and forcefully denied the allegations.
The South African Pretoria High Court ruled in her favour, ordering the Botswana government to pay her legal costs. Those costs have now been taxed at the R83 million level following extended bills-of-costs proceedings.
The Botswana government is now challenging the magnitude and structure of the R83 million figure, rather than the underlying ruling itself. The matter continues to test how courts in Pretoria and Gaborone handle cross-border enforcement of legal-cost awards involving high-profile UHNW litigants.
Motsepe-Radebe, the sister of African Rainbow Minerals chair Patrice Motsepe and sister-in-law to President Cyril Ramaphosa, is also one of South Africa’s most prominent indigenous mining principals through Mmakau Mining. Her profile has kept the case under close political and commercial scrutiny across southern Africa.