the people who were going to the stage to vote and supporters of
[Kgotso] Segamme [the candidate Magashule allegedly preferred] were
blocking our way to the stage. When we asked to pass, we were told
that we would not be allowed to vote for our chosen councillor. The
next thing I felt someone pulling my shirt and trying to strangle me. I
looked up and it was the premier himself. He ended up pushing me
down to the ground. The premier grabbed my right arm and shook me.
Then he ordered his bodyguards to arrest us.^13
The Sowetan reported that Magashule had allegedly ‘slapped and
kicked’ Maleka and fellow branch member Mzwanele Moletsane.^14
Magashule did not deny that he was involved in the disturbance, but
claimed that he merely played the role of peacemaker. ‘I was chairing
that meeting but I did not beat them up,’ he told reporters. ‘I was just
separating them because they were about to start a fight. The truth will
come out in court. Let the police investigate. The people who were
there will be my witnesses. Politics is a dirty game.’^15
Maleka and Moletsane laid charges of assault against the premier, but
later withdrew them. Brigadier Sam Makhele, a spokesperson for the
SAPS in the province, confirmed this. I got hold of Maleka, who told
me that he and Moletsane withdrew their complaints after ‘sorting
things out’ with Magashule. He did not want to provide further details
on the matter.
Dennis Bloem, the former long-serving ANC member from the Free
State who later joined COPE, sketched a disconcerting picture of
Magashule’s alleged improprieties when it came to the ruling party’s
meetings and conferences in the period before he became premier.
Bloem, who jumped ship in 2009 , claimed that Magashule effectively