Tributes are pouring in for the radio presenter and TV personality Maritjie Bothma. Known as Intombi Yomzulu, Bothma passed away on Monday after a short illness.

 

It is with regret that we announce the demise of Marietjie Bothma, one of our radio family presenters, today, May 29, 2023, according to a statement released by the radio station for which she worked, Sauma HD Radio. Lala ngoxolo Marietjie Bothma Sisi. Night, everyone. Bothma, who was well-known for being vivacious and speaking isiZulu fluently, disappeared, but the station did not explain what had happened to him.

Bothma, a former church member who grew up at the contentious KwaSizabantu Mission in KZN, testified of the abuse of human rights there.

In 2020, Bothma testified before the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities, claiming that she had experienced sexual and physical abuse at the mission. Ruth Combrink and Elizabeth Vermaak, the daughters of church leader Erlo Stegen, were allegedly forced to “suck on the breasts” of the little girl. They used to punish me by gargling with pepper water whenever we would discuss it. Botha admitted to the Commission, “I was only a kid, less than five.