Gangster State

I asked Peet Pieterse, Open Water’s CEO, about his partner’s
meetings with Magashule. He replied: ‘Mr Nkondo cannot recall the
private meeting with Mr. Magashule but agrees that he did meet with
the Premier on occasion. We generally briefed the Premier on
investigations during ExCo meetings, in the same manner and meetings
where other forensic auditors provided feedback on investigations.’ The
purpose of the ‘private meeting’ at Magashule’s residence therefore
remains a mystery.
A member of one of Magashule’s earlier executive councils told me
Open Water had been brought into the Free State by Magashule shortly
after he became premier in 2009. ‘The province needed to verify its
payroll system, and Ace told us to use Open Water,’ said the source.
From that point onwards, the firm acted like ‘cleaners’ when it came to
the Magashule administration’s shadiest contracts, this person alleged.
‘They covered up a lot of things, but they also did some good work,’
claimed the source.
Pieterse denied that they were pulled into the Free State by
Magashule. The firm was previously known as Ramathe Fivaz and had
been present in the province since 2001 , he said. He took exception to
Open Water being referred to as Magashule’s ‘cleaners’. In his defence
of the firm, he made a rather curious remark. ‘We were probably rather
Mr Magashule’s henchmen than cleaners and we were not well liked as
our appointment resulted in employees and office bearers being
dismissed and/or crimin​ally charged,’ Pieterse contended in a written
response. He said he could ‘categorically’ state that Magashule ‘never
once asked [Open Water] to manipulate any findings or omit any
evidence from [their] reports’.
But the perceptions of an unusually close relationship between the