Ramaphosa shuffles his Ace and Joker

While President Cyril Ramaphosa continues with his efforts to steer SA towards calmer waters, his secretary-general remains a major stumbling block. Legalbrief reports that with Ace Magashule’s trail of transgressions – including corruption, theft and money laundering – it’s likely that the ruling party is lurching towards another tipping point. And the stakes are sky-high. When Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivers his Budget speech on 20 February, he will be well aware that the country is on the brink of seeking an IMF bailout. A Vrye Weekblad analysis notes that Mboweni and President Cyril Ramaphosa have yet to take action because there is too much push back within the party and Magashule and his pro-Zuma allies are leading this resistance. It says the day Magashule sits in the dock with a list of serious charges against him is the day Ramaphosa can start using his power as leader of the ANC and SA.

Full Vrye Weekblad report

A British investigative NGO says it has found more damning evidence of corruption in the Free State during Magashule’s premiership and is prepared to testify about this evidence before the state capture commission of inquiry. City Press reports that the new information apparently shows that the infamous Gupta family sold computers valued at R1.7m to Magashule’s Government for R3.8m – more than double their worth. The NGO also claims that Mosebenzi Zwane, former MEC for Agriculture in the Free State, allegedly received benefits worth R500 000 from Gupta companies a month after he signed the 99-year lease with the Guptas for the Estina farm. Other information relates to the notorious Estina dairy farm at Vrede and shows that the Guptas allegedly imported rusting farm equipment from India for the project. The report notes that the investigation was conducted by the NGO Shadow World Investigations, formerly known as Corruption Watch SA, an organisation in which Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC MP, plays a leading role.

Full City Press report

Shadow World gets to the nitty gritty of the Estina/Vrede Project in an article on the Daily Maverick site. In it, Holden notes the real proof of how the project was conceived and run to the benefit of the Guptas can be found in the convoluted banking records of Estina and the Guptas’ offshore network in Dubai. These show that the vast majority of the money that was paid to Estina by the Free State Government was almost immediately laundered into accounts controlled by the Gupta enterprise, leaving only a tiny fraction of money to run a down-at-heel dairy farm. Holden concludes: ‘The precise routes that the money took, and how the Guptas set up their laundering networks to foil SA investigators, is the subject of our second, and forthcoming, submission to the Zondo Commission.’

Full Daily Maverick report

The ANC says it is standing behind Magashule in the face of the ‘ongoing vilification campaign’ to tarnish his image. A report on the News24 site notes that ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the NGO was rehashing old allegations that had not been substantiated and that Magashule should not ‘dignify these insults with a response’. ‘The ANC does not see these allegations in isolation, but as part of a well-orchestrated and co-ordinated vilification campaign against our secretary-general and to further fuel divisions,’ he said. ‘It is not clear why this NGO would devote so much resources and energy toward pursuing narrow political agendas by seeking to tarnish the image of some leaders. The question arises: Whose agenda are they serving?’

Full Fin24 report