(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Pieter-Louis Myburgh told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday that the ANC’s response to his book Gangster State: Unravelling Magashule’s Web of Capture has been “very predictable”. This comes after the ANC issued a statement on Monday rubbishing allegations made in the book — which details the alleged role of ANC secretary general Ace Magashule in state capture — as “fake news”.
Business Insider, a News24 publication originally broke the story of the allegations which emerged from Myburgh’s book over the weekend. Myburgh spent more than a year on the book, which focuses on Magashule’s networks and links him to a number of seemingly irregular and illegal payments, including instructions to the beneficiary of a provincial contract to ensure payments are made according to his wishes.
Myburgh says the governing party’s communication has been “deplorable”, adding that instead of engaging the claims made in the book, the ANC has made allegations against him which cannot be substantiated, including accusing him of being a “Stratcom [strategic communications] agent”.
But Myburgh says that it is a characteristic of the ANC to have a hostile reaction to journalists and media houses which implicate their own “without grappling with the substance of what has been brought up”.
With former Free State economic development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana set to give testimony at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on Friday, Myburgh believes that further revelations on the extent of Magashule’s involvement in state capture will emerge.
“I hope this kind of work leads to processes where even more info is unearthed,” Myburgh told the M&G. “There are a vast number of people who know about these things.
“What needs to happen next is what all South Africans desiring a free and safe country want, and that is proper handling of this by law enforcement,” he added.
The book is now available for purchase.