SUSPENDED ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule’s lawyer Laurance Hodes has dismissed claims that the former premier’s personal assistant Moroadi Cholota has turned a State witness in the Bloemfontein High Court on Wednesday where Magashule and ten others appeared on multiple charges relating to the R255 million failed asbestos project.
Magashule and his 10 co-accused, including controversial businessman Edwin Sodi, and five other companies appeared briefly in the Free State High Court for a pre-trial hearing before Judge President Cagney Musi.
The accused have been charged with fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering, among other charges, relating to a R255-million contract for the assessment and removal of asbestos roofs.
They are facing more than 70 charges which included corruption, fraud, money laundering in contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, Prevention of Organised Crime Act, as well as contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
Hodes told the Bloemfontein High Court that the case of Magashule was premised on that he and Cholota were represented by Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys, the law firm that prepared her statement when she gave evidence before the commission of inquiry into state capture in June 2019.
According to Hodes, when Cholota was called to testify before the commission chaired by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, she was represented by Nkhwashu, who compiled and signed her statement, which was exculpatory (evidence that clears) of accused number 13.
During her appearance before the Zondo Commission, Cholota testified that it was a norm for her to approach business people for funding, on behalf of the premier.
“We believe that is firstly, factually incorrect, because we had already had a statement from her as a defence witness, and we had addressed correspondence to my learned friend (prosecutor Johan de Nsschen) in this regard, because it was placed on record both in the inquiry and in correspondence that Nkhwashu represented Cholota,” Hodes said.
“They do not, as per the docket, have a signed statement from her, so we believe that it is incorrect for the State to record her as a State witness and to say that they are calling her, when we had as a defence witness and there is authority in that regard.”
The matter was postponed to October 19.
Magashule said he was surprised to learn that Cholota was a state witness.
“This is a political matter and has nothing to do with law. I am ready to clear my name. Once we win this case, we’ll actually expose the political trial which was actually deliberate to keep Magashule in court, so that you keep him away from the masses of our people,” he said.
“I knew that Cholota had not implicated me in any wrongdoing, because I was never involved in any. I thus thought her version would be changed for it to be beneficial to the state. I was thus comforted by the thought that she would have to explain the basis upon which she recanted her previous version or stood a chance of being charged with perjury, having changed a version that she swore under oath.”
The ANC suspended Magashule after he refused to step aside in the face of the case against him.
He is appealing after losing a court challenge to have his suspension found unlawful and declared unconstitutional.
