Gangster State

instituted action proceedings to recover the R 631 million. However,
also included in the email were the names of an additional five
companies not mentioned in the department’s court filings. These
companies had collectively received more than R 35 million in 2010 / 11
alone, according to records from the department’s housing subsidy
system.
One such supplier was Friedshelf 863. When I looked at its records at
the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), I found
the name of one of Magashule’s oldest and most trusted pals. Hantsi
Matseke (née Mayeza), a fellow Parys local whose relationship with
Magashule goes back to their Hillbrow days, registered the company in
2007. Its name was later changed to Maono Construction, and it
features elsewhere in this book. Matseke also registered a joint venture
(JV) with a company called Ubuhlebethu Property Developments in
October 2010. In other words, the JV was established just in time for
the FSHS’s splurge. The JV subsequently scored a contract to build
271 houses in Bohlokong outside Bethlehem. This project was
awarded to Matseke and her partner as part of Operation Hlasela, the
premier’s development programme.
Matseke became chairperson of the Free State Development
Corpor​ation in July 2012. As we will see in later chapters, this state-
owned entity has been very kind to Magashule’s daughter, Thoko
Malembe, who also later became Matseke’s business partner.
Although the NURCHA email listed Friedshelf 863 as a supplier, the
department’s HSS refers to the company as a ‘contractor/builder’. The
HSS shows that Matseke’s company received a small for​tune from the
department. In 2010 / 11 , it was paid just under R 6 million. In the
following financial year, it received R 38 million. By 2014 , Friedshelf