Gangster State

the middle of a financial year in which Thutela Bogolo earned R 21
million from the FSHS, according to the HSS.
Several sources have claimed that Magashule often visited Els at her
home in Parys and sometimes even spent the night. His diary contains
details that suggest this may be true. On the weekend of 20 and 21
October 2012 , for example, Magashule’s diary shows consecutive
‘private visit[s]’ at ‘Roshelle’s Place Parys’ [sic].
Els told me Magashule sometimes spent the night at a guesthouse in
Parys owned by her daughter. ‘Everyone in Parys knows him, so he
needed a place to stay over where people wouldn’t be able to bother
him,’ she said. Magashule apparently paid for his accommodation.
There is also the matter of an overseas trip that Els, Magashule and
other Free State officials embarked on in 2010. My sources told me the
then premier went to the USA in that year, and that contractors like Els
helped foot the bill.
Els admitted that she went to the USA with Magashule. She denied
that she had bankrolled the entire trip, but indicated that she’d had to
pay money into a bank account to help fund the journey. Magashule
was going to accept some award from an American institution,
according to Els. When it turned out that he needed to pay for the
accolade, he decided not to accept it. But the trip continued regardless.
Els denied that the trip had been a way of showing her gratitude to
Magashule for her company’s RDP contracts.
In May 2012 , the FSHS named Els ‘Best Contractor of the Year for
the role her company, Thutela Bogolo ... played in helping the
department meet its objective of building sustainable houses for the
poor’, according to The Weekly, which covered the occasion.^24
The Govan Mbeki Awards, in which Els was honoured, were hosted