Gangster State

dealings in the Free State, sources familiar with the matter told me that
her stepfather – a man with a few political connections of his own –
asked Ramaphosa to facilitate a reunion, which he duly did.
Ramaphosa’s people have never contested this version of events. ‘This
is a private matter and it would not be appropriate for the deputy
president to comment,’ his spokesperson told me in January 2018 ,
shortly before Ramaphosa became president of South Africa.
Magashule and Thoko have been equally coy about their relationship.
Thoko at first denied that Magashule was her father. ‘I have no
relationship with the guy,’ she told me in early 2018 , while
Magashule’s spokesperson said he would not ‘entertain any questions
on the private affairs of the premier’. Shortly after News 24 published
an article I wrote about Thoko’s dealings with her father’s
administration, another report appeared in the Bloemfontein Courant
detailing how she had benefited from alleged tender maladministration
and tender rigging.^1 Magashule lashed out at the media. ‘They will say
this one or that one has a lot of work – so what?’ he asked during his
final State of the Province Address in February 2018. ‘There are
processes of procurement, so I as premier, believe in radical economic
transformation. I will not be bullied into not supporting black business
because of all these allegations of corruption against me.’^2
His remarks contained an apparent contradiction. On the one hand,
Magashule was adamant that people such as Thoko won government
contracts through proper procurement processes. On the other hand, he
seemed to suggest that businesses like Thoko’s won contracts because
of his support. He had inadvertently acknowledged his power and
influence within the province’s procurement environment.
Before I dig into some of Thoko’s many government deals, allow me