[UPDATE]

According to News24, Mokoetle has been found in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital after allegedly hitting his head from a fall. According to reports, a passer-by picked him up and took him to hospital.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

South Africa’s Department of Communications has confirmed that former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle has been reported missing to the police.

According to news reports, Mokoetle disappeared on Friday from his Mount Edgecombe home in Umhlanga. His wife claims that he walked to their house’s gate in his pajamas to meet someone, and just never returned.

Mokoetle is currently serving as the Head of the Broadcasting Digital Migration Project Management Office under Minister of Communications Ms Faith Muthambi, who has expressed her concern over his disappearance.

“As the Ministry of Communications we are concerned about his welfare. We call upon anyone who may have seen him recently or know his whereabouts to contact the family or the police,” Muthambi said in a short media statement.

Mokoetle’s family has also appealed to the community to assist in locating him. “If they spot him, please just report it to any police station. There is a case pending of a missing person,” said Mokoetle’s wife Zola Mthuli.

Mokoetle short tenure at the SABC also wasn’t without controversy. In 2009 he was promoted from Chief Operations Officer to Chief Executive Officer, and five months later named Phil Molefe as the new Head of News.

This did not sit well with SABC board members, as many claim that they weren’t consulted. Mokoetle’s decision to appoint Molefe was eventually overturned and declared null and void, and after being suspended a month later, he announced his resignation from the broadcaster in January 2011.

It was revealed last year that Mokoetle reportedly received a R3.8 million payout from the SABC.

No further details were available at the time of publishing.