The former secretary general was cast out of the ruling party in May last year after he refused to step aside, as per the ANC’s rules over corruption, fraud and money laundering charges. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
In typical ANC fashion, suspended secretary general Ace Magashule has turned to the clergy ahead of his corruption trial set to continue on Monday.
Magashule was cast out of the ruling party in May last year after he refused to step aside, as per ANC rules, over corruption, fraud and money laundering charges laid against him in relation to an asbestos audit in the Free State.
In the past week, Magashule visited in Johannesburg, which held a special prayer session on his behalf ahead of the trial. The embattled ANC administrator was also visited by a number of leaders of the clergy in his home town in Parys in the Free State.
This is the same playbook that has been followed by many ANC leaders when faced with court action. Recently, former president Jacob Zuma and former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede also turned to the church in the wake of criminal charges.
The trial comes as lobbying for positions intensifies in the ANC ahead of its elective conference in December, with some party leaders doubting whether Magashule will find expression in the party leadership, after he recently lost his bid at the appellate court to have his suspension declared unconstitutional. Magashule has now had three court appeals denied.
In a blistering judgment delivered by the full bench, the court said it was satisfied that the ANC’s constitution was consistent with that of the country and that the decision to suspend Magashule was precautionary and complied with the relevant law. The court said it was satisfied that the suspension accorded with the principles of natural justice.
Magashule lost some sympathisers in the ruling party when he wrote a letter shortly after he was suspended saying that ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa should be suspended.
Some of those loyal to Magashule are hoping he can stand for either ANC president or chairperson at the elective conference.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian last December, Magashule said he anticipated that there would be a contest for all top six positions in the ruling party, including that of Ramaphosa, and that it would be a tough and bruising battle.
Magashule who has maintained his innocence, often vowing to reveal the real faces behind corruption, has told the media that law enforcement was being used to target political opponents in the ANC.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) case against Magashule is that:
- In August 2015 he corruptly accepted a payment of R53 550 towards the tuition fees of the daughter of a then acting judge;
- In June 2015, Magashule accepted payment of R470 000 paid at his request to M-Tag Systems for the acquisition of 200 electronic tablets;
- In June 2015, Magashule accepted a payment of R30 000, paid at his request to SWC Nkate;
- Between November 2015 and January 2016, a payment of R250 000, at Magashule’s request, was made to Astra Travel towards the travel expenses of a delegation to Cuba; and
- Magashule failed to report corrupt transactions in contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
Magashule argues that the case against him is solely reliant on evidence from Mxolisi Dukwana, one of his arch foes and a member of the executive council of the Free State.
Dukwana told the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture in October 2019 that Magashule had syphoned money from the government during his tenure as Free State premier.
“It is no secret that Mr Dukwana has an axe to grind with me. This taints his credibility, [and] consequently his evidence must be viewed with circumspection. It is thus noteworthy that he is not reflected on the list of state witnesses attached to the indictment,” Magashule argues.
In his testimony at the Zondo commission, Dukwana alleged that Magashule was a “blesser” (benefactor) to many because of payments advanced to him by Phikolomzi Ignatius Mpambani from money corruptly and fraudulently sourced from state coffers through the asbestos project. Mpambani, who was shot dead in Sandton in an apparent hit, is linked to the asbestos case.
The case against Magashule seemed to unravel late last year when the NPA’s key witness and former assistant to Magashule, Moroadi Cholota, refused to turn state witness.
In a letter that emerged in November, the United States-based Cholota called on Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to help her fight a warrant of arrest and accused the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of intimidation and coercion.
Cholota claimed that the Hawks, with the assistance of the FBI, attempted to coerce and coach a statement out of her unrelated to her testimony at the Zondo commission.