by human settlements MEC Olly Mlamleli, who was ‘flanked’ by
Magashule, the newspaper reported. At the ceremony, Els described
how she got ahead in the RDP business: ‘I approached the [Mangaung
metro] municipality and spoke with the mayor Thabo Manyoni and I
offered to help the government build better RDP houses. He then
linked me with the Free State premier, who subsequently gave me the
opportunity to build one of the show houses that formed part of the
government’s building projects.’
‘I would like to thank Mr Magashule for believing in me and for
giving me a chance to showcase what I think every human being
should have – a decent house,’ she said in her acceptance speech.
I spoke to Manyoni who denied ‘linking’ Els with Magashule. ‘She
knew Ace and Hantsi [Matseke] long before me!’ he protested.
Els’s comments, no doubt unintentionally, confirmed the long-held
suspicion that Magashule directly influenced the awarding of tenders in
his provincial departments. Instead of obtaining contracts through a
competitive bidding process or even through lobbying the department
itself, Els seemed to be affirming that one had to win Magashule’s
approval to get a foot in the door.
Or maybe it simply came down to good-neighbourliness. As
mentioned earlier, businessman Glen Netshivhodza was another Parys
local and Magashule confidant who scored big during the housing
department’s R 1 -billion spending spree. Incidentally, Magashule’s
wife, Seipati, is in business with Netshivhodza’s wife. Seipati and Elsie
Netshivhodza are listed as co-directors of a company called Kumba
Civils.
In March 2013 , Netshivhodza was appointed chairperson of the Free
State Tourism Authority, a troubled provincial government entity that
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