Obituaries: Kgomotso Sebetso: Senior TV reporter
Kgomotso Sebetso, who has died at the age of 44 after crashing his car into the back of a truck in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria, was a senior SABC TV political reporter.
He was fired from the corporation in 2001 after being found guilty of sexual harassment, offered a job as a communications officer with the Unemployment Insurance Fund in the Department of Labour and, in 2004, re-employed by the SABC to cover the Presidency.
He accompanied President Jacob Zuma on most of his foreign visits. After the start of the popular uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship in Libya this year, he accompanied Zuma on his unsuccessful peace mission to that country and managed to score an interview with Gaddafi himself.
He asked Gaddafi if he was in control of his country. The "Brother Leader" responded in broken English: "My people loves me." Sebetso, who even his closest colleagues at the SABC felt was "humble and respectful" to a fault, did not press the point.
Sebetso was born in Roodepoort on March 23 1967. After matriculating at Boaparankwe High School in Limpopo, he studied journalism at the Cape Technikon and joined the SABC as a bulletin writer in 1987. He progressed from radio to television, and from general news to politics.
In 2000, he was made SABC bureau chief in Pretoria, and his life started unravelling.
A married father of two children at the time, he began sending raunchy e-mails to a junior staffer, plied her with porn, which he downloaded from the internet, and made persistent demands for sex.
She complained to her union, which alerted the SABC. It did nothing initially until, under mounting union pressure, it held an internal inquiry.
Sebetso was found guilty of sexual harassment, dishonesty, coming to work under the influence of alcohol and sleeping during office hours, and fired.
He is survived by his widow, Makoma, and three children.
Join the discussion & Debate
Obituaries: Kgomotso Sebetso: Senior TV reporter
For Commenters Consideration | Please stick to the subject matterCOMMENTS [2]
TryphinaNaniki
Posted 506 days agoTryphina
Belladonna
Posted 375 days ago