Magashule and daughter in money

Johannesburg Controversial ANC secretary general and Free State Premier Ace Magashule is implicated in a dodgy property deal with the Free State Development Corporation (FDC) that saw his long lost daughter score R9 million for doing nothing.

Magashule’s business links and dealings have been thrust into the spotlight after the Hawks raided the premier’s office in Bloemfontein last week in search of documents relating to the infamous dairy farm deal in Vrede that benefited the Gupta family.

News24 can reveal that 27 year old Thoko Alice Malembe, Magashule’s estranged daughter with whom he was reunited in 2011, scored a contentious property deal with the FDC, a government entity with a chairperson who is said to be a long time ally of Magashule.

canada goose black friday sale Malembe was born shortly after Magashule went into exile in the late 1980s and was reunited with the premier in 2011, partly thanks to the intervention of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa. [See “Ace, Malembe reunited” below] canada goose black friday sale

canada goose uk black friday Neither Magashule nor Ramaphosa have denied the story. canada https://www.canadagooseoutlets.biz goose uk black friday

Since this reintroduction, the young businesswoman’s fortunes canada goose discount uk have improved drastically, largely due to a string of government tenders and property deals she secured from the provincial government under Magashule’s control.

In one of the most troubling deals, Magashule himself allegedly helped ensure that official canada goose outlet properties owned by the FDC ended up canada goose outlet uk in his daughter’s hands. A concurrent R11m “upfront” rental agreement with petroleum giant Shell helped Malembe to purchase one of these properties from the FDC while allowing her to pocket a further R9m without so much as lifting a finger.

As a result of the latter property deal, a once thriving fuel station was forced to shut down, leaving more than 60 employees in the rural town of Phuthaditjhaba in the eastern Free State without jobs.

News24 has obtained video footage of canada goose outlet online uk Magashule and a group of men, including two FDC board members, inspecting this property in 2014. They were joined by a young woman who appears to be Malembe.

Malembe also happens to be a business associate of Hantsi Matseke, the FDC’s chairperson and a long time ally of Magashule. Malembe and Matseke’s respective companies have both greatly benefited from government contracts in canada goose outlet online the Free State and have worked together on some of these projects [See “Ace, Malembe and the FDC chair” below].

One Thursday afternoon in December 2014, a convoy of two black BMWs and two SUVs rolled into a busy Shell fuel station in the heart of Phuthaditjhaba, the capital of the former eastern Free State homeland of QwaQwa. One of the vehicles, a white SUV, had emergency lights flashing on its roof, announcing to onlookers that someone important had come to visit their rural corner of the Free State.

At that time the property belonged to the FDC, the state owned entity chaired by Matseke.

Magashule did not respond to queries about why he had visited the petrol station.

canada goose clearance Security footage of the visit shows a young woman getting out of one of the vehicles before getting into the back of one of the other cars. Moments later, after the woman had again exited the car, Magashule emerges from this vehicle. canada goose clearance

Malembe did not reply to our questions about whether or not it is her in the video.

News24 established that some of the other men visible on the video is Vish Maharaj, an FDC board member, and Mohloua “Blacky” Seoe, a former FDC chairman who later became an ordinary board member. AmaBhungane in 2011 linked Seoe and Magashule to a suspicious government property deal awarded to a company of which Seoe and Magashule were once co directors.

canada goose coats Seoe has since resigned from the FDC board. canada goose coats

uk canada goose “Eish, you know what, I don have any comment on that, thanks,” Seoe said when queried about the visit to the Shell garage. uk canada goose

Canada Goose online Maharaj denied that he visited the site. But when News24 showed him the CCTV footage, he ignored News24’s subsequent queries. Canada Goose canada goose outlet online

Several former petrol attendants at the garage have confirmed that Magashule and a group of people visited the premises.

The video also shows the premier, the young canada goose outlet parka woman and Maharaj, along with several other men, walking around canada goose outlet mississauga the premises, before later convening near the fuel pumps. They remained there for about five minutes for what appears to have been a rather earnest canada goose outlet 80 off discussion. In all, the group spent about 15 minutes at the fuel station.

“Ace was there with bodyguards and some other people. It looked like he was checking out the place from corner to corner,” says one former petrol attended who was on duty that day.

canada goose Another former petrol attendant says that the talk among staff at the time was that Magashule himself was going to take over the fuel station. canada goose

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To the garage’s former owners, the premier visit would not have been the first sign that their business was facing serious trouble. Though the former owners declined to speak to News24, court documents filed in a protracted legal battle with the FDC shed some light on the saga.

The former owners used canada goose outlet store near me to rent the property from the FDC.

canada goose coats on sale In June 2014, six months before Magashule’s visit, the FDC notified the then owners that the lease agreement between the two parties had expired earlier that year, and that it wanted to cancel the agreement canada goose coats on sale.