Umkhonto we Sizwe member who later served alongside Magashule in
the 1994 provincial cabinet appointed by Mosiuoa Lekota.^9 Sources
familiar with Free State politics told me that Nthatisi played a crucial
role in helping Magashule become provincial chair at the 2002 elective
conference.
In the 2000 s, the Nthatisis started doing brisk business with the Free
State government, especially in the low-cost housing sector. The HSS
shows that four companies managed by or linked to them have over the
years earned revenue of about R 400 million from the FSHS. This
includes payments of about R 23 million in 2010 / 11 , the year in which
the department’s ‘fraudulent scheme’ was rolled out.
But, like Mbalula, Gregory Nthatisi was associated with the 2012
Regime Change movement, with the de facto mouthpiece for the
Magashule administration, The Weekly, going so far as to call him the
‘face’ of the campaign. For someone who had so richly benefited from
government contracts, Nthatisi had some harsh words for the
Magashule regime. ‘This move ... in its nature is aimed at stopping the
abuse of power, patronage, corrupt practices at the level of the ANC
and state power,’ he said.^10
Nthatisi’s ‘betrayal’ coincided with a dramatic turn in fortune for his
and his wife’s low-cost housing empire. The FSHS’s financial data
perfectly encapsulates how their businesses suffered the same fate as
those of Matosa and Ramakatsa in the wake of the unsuccessful
attempt to oust Magashule and his allies.
In the 2011 / 12 financial year, just before the Regime Change
challengers mounted their attack, the four Nthatisi businesses earned a
healthy R 25 million in revenue from the FSHS. But by the following
financial year, their revenue was down to just under R 4 million. And in
nora
(Nora)
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