17 Facts About Yolanda Botha

Yolanda Rachel Botha was a South African politician and public servant who represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly from 2009 until her death in December 2014.

Yolanda Botha served as Provincial Treasurer of the ANC's Northern Cape branch from June 2008 until her death.

In 2011, Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests had reprimanded Yolanda Botha for having failed to disclose benefits that she had received from Trifecta; and, in 2013, the National Prosecuting Authority indicted her on fraud and money laundering charges, alleging that she had received illegal kickbacks from the company.

Yolanda Botha matriculated in Upington in the former Cape Province in 1964.

Yolanda Botha held a bachelor's degree from the University of the Western Cape, completed in 1988.

Between 2001 and 2009, Yolanda Botha was head of the Department of Social Development in the Northern Cape Provincial Government.

Yolanda Botha was re-elected as ANC Provincial Treasurer, unopposed, in June 2012.

Yolanda Botha was re-elected to a second term in her legislative seat in the 2014 general election, ranked fifth on the ANC's provincial-to-national party list for the Northern Cape.

Soon into the legislative term, Yolanda Botha was charged with misconduct in Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests.

Yolanda Botha denied that her relationship with Trifecta was corrupt or otherwise inappropriate.

Yolanda Botha said that the stake in the company had been vested in her relatives and that the home renovation was financed with a loan which she would repay to Trifecta.

Yolanda Botha was sentenced to the maximum penalty: a reprimand and a fine of 30 days' salary.

In 2013, Yolanda Botha was indicted on criminal charges in connection with kickbacks allegedly received from Trifecta.

Yolanda Botha's co-accused included two other Northern Cape politicians, John Block and Alvin Botes, as well as other Northern Cape officials.

The trial was ongoing when Yolanda Botha died in December 2014, but Block was later found guilty of corruption and money laundering, as was Trifecta's former chief executive, Christo Scholtz; Botes was acquitted.

In November 2014, Yolanda Botha's doctor told the Northern Cape High Court that she was terminally ill.

Yolanda Botha was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, which spread to her brain, and she died on 28 December 2014 in a hospital in Kimberley.