Gangster State

did not even feature in the NURCHA investigation, let alone the
department’s later legal proceedings. The payments to these companies
are reflected in the HSS.
One such company that drew my attention was Robs Bricks. The
database showed that it had received exactly R 7 million, a figure that
stood out like a sore thumb among the hundreds of payments. It is
highly unlikely that any supplier would have provided materials valued
at such a precisely round figure.
The company’s CIPC records confirmed that my suspicions were
justified. Like the JV between Friedshelf 863 and Ubuhlebethu, Robs
Bricks had been registered just in time for the department’s 2010 / 11
spending spree. And its sole director was Mohlouoa ‘Blacky’ Seoe, one
of Magashule’s former business partners.
Seoe has another company – Robs Investment Holdings – which
benefited from the FSHS’s largesse to a much greater extent than Robs
Bricks. What’s more, the HSS shows that its success correlates exactly
with Magashule’s tenure as premier. Between 2010 and 2017 , Robs
Investment Holdings netted almost R 90 million from the department.
Like its sister entity, it was not mentioned in the FSHS’s court
application.
A 2013 progress report on some of the department’s projects sheds
light on Robs Investment Holdings’ poor performance. During the R 1 -
billion splurge of 2010 , Seoe’s company clinched contracts to build
400 houses in the former homeland of QwaQwa and in the town of
Kestell. By February 2013 , it had completed only 187 units. According
to the report, Robs Investment Holdings had experienced problems
with sourcing materials. At the Kestell site, some of the would-be
beneficiaries had become so tired of waiting that they had started to