SUSPENDED ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule returns to court on Monday in connection with the multimillion-rand asbestos fraud case in the Free State.
Magashule and his co-accused are expected to appear in the high court in Bloemfontein on Monday and Tuesday.
Magashule is facing 21 charges of fraud and corruption related to the R225 million asbestos removal tender during his tenure as premier.
He is currently out on R200 000 bail alongside his co-accused.
“I can assure you in my life I have never been involved in corruption,” Magashule said during an interview with eNCA.
“This is a political trial. That’s why I want to be in the box. I want to be there so that South Africans know the truth, that I have been in Parliament for 25 years and I did not do anything wrong. Then suddenly in the last years of my term, I do something wrong which is corruption.”
He told the national broadcaster that he supports the ANC resolutions in terms of fighting corruption and crime.
“There are no charges. In the media there are 70 charges against Magashule and I asked them to tell me one charge people will say corruption. If you say 70 charges, can you read those 70 charges so that the public knows about the 70 charges because the indictment is there, it is a public document,” he said.
“I can assure you in my life I have never been involved in corruption but it’s for me, the police and NPA to prove the case. I am still saying this is genuinely a political trial.”
Last week, Magashule attended several prayer services ahead of his court appearances.
Magashule visited a church in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, and another in his hometown of Parys, in the Free State, on Friday, where his supporters prayed for him.
Magashule maintains he has done nothing wrong and was innocent.
- * Inside Politics
