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Vogelfontein

Thoko Malembe’s reunion with her powerful father seemingly brought
her great joy and a sense of belonging. ‘Theres no greater feeling like
being reunited with ur family, knowing who u are n where u come
from,’ she wrote on her Facebook page in June 2011. The reunion
certainly seems to have set her on a path towards wealth and success.
When she finished her degree in logistics management in 2013 , she
was spared the trouble of having to look for a job. She was just twenty-
three years old when her newly established companies started clinching
contracts from the Free State provincial government led by her father.
One particularly troubling project would ultimately net one of her
businesses government contracts worth R 150 million. This story
centres on a failed low-cost housing development on the outskirts of
Bethlehem in the eastern Free State. As with the Shell fuel station
debacle, Ace Magashule’s shadow again loomed over the deal.
In early 2012 , Magashule and human settlements MEC Olly Mlamleli
visited Bethlehem’s Selahliwe informal settlement. They promised
residents living in shacks that the provincial government would soon
launch a new development nearby and that they would all be moved to
proper houses.^1 The premier and the MEC were back in Bethlehem in
April the following year, but this time their visit was a low-key affair.
Photos of the gathering show Magashule, Mlamleli and other
government officials meeting with a Chinese businessman at a tract of
open land officially known as Baken Park. Bethlehem locals call the
area Vogelfontein. According to sources familiar with the matter,