Gangster State

inability to complete the project on time.^18
By the look of things, the Free State legislature was the place to be if
you wanted your family members to clinch RDP contracts. The
husband of the late Mantsheng ‘Ouma’ Tsopo, a former speaker of the
provincial legislature, got in on the action too. Sandile Tsopo is a
trustee of the Phahama Development Trust, which over the years
earned revenue of about R 36 million from the FSHS. This includes
payments made during the big splurge of 2010.
Tsopo was convicted in 2007 on fraud charges related to dodgy
contracts from the Free State Department of Education, which his late
wife once headed.^19 This clearly had no impact on Phahama’s ability to
score provincial contracts after Magashule took over as premier.
Along with Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Nozuko Mbalula, Sandile Tsopo
was one of the few connected individuals exposed by the media in
relation to the 2010 splurge. He told Volksblad in 2017 that he had
been appointed to build 600 houses in Matjhabeng (Welkom), but that
he had completed only 200. He claimed that the project ground to a
halt after his materials supplier died, and maintained that he had only
received payment for work done and for which Phahama had invoiced
the department.^20
Ouma Tsopo’s predecessor as speaker, Moeketsi Sesele, was a
member of the Free State’s pro-Magashule northern faction. His
daughter Masedi is the director of Jore Construction, which received
payments of more than R 10 million for RDP houses between 2010 and
2014. Jore has perhaps the worst performance record of the four
entities linked to politicians in the legislature. Appointed to build 400
houses in Thaba ’Nchu near Bloemfontein in 2010 , nearly three years
later it had completed only 84 units.^21 Most worryingly, the lives of the