Gangster State

asbestos auditing contract. Several sources in the Free State close to
Magashule alleged that Ackeer was not only like an assistant, but also
a fixer of sorts. ‘Ace first brought Ackeer into the ANC to try and get
more support from coloured voters in the Free State. Then he gradually
started to work for Ace. Later, he allegedly started doing Ace’s dirty
work. He would pick up money for Ace or do other things that Ace
couldn’t do with the people from his official blue lights security team,’
a top politician in the province told me. A second source, a current
MEC, agreed: ‘Chris and Ricardo [Mettler] did the same kind of things
for Ace. They did most of his dirty work.’ Mettler, another member of
Magashule’s security detail, was implicated in the alleged theft of a
Pierneef painting worth an estimated R 8 million from the Free State
premier’s office in early 2018 , during the time that Magashule was
vacating it.^2
Ackeer strongly denied the allegations. ‘I am not the SG’s fixer and I
don’t collect cash from other people on his behalf,’ he told me. ‘The SG
is not my employer. I am a strategic manager for the ANC and I don’t
report to the SG,’ added Ackeer. He said he had not known Mpambani
well and only met him ‘maybe two or three times’ at social events. ‘I
never took money from him,’ he said.
I discussed Mpambani’s pattern of withdrawing cash from ATMs near
Free State House with three former members of Magashule’s inner
circle. They were all convinced that the cash went to the then premier.
‘This is how Ace operates,’ said one. ‘A similar thing happened with
another FSHS contractor in the Riebeeckstad area. After the
businessman got paid by the province, Ace himself collected cash from
the guy at an Engen garage.’ Another alleged that ‘Ace deals in cash.
He knows that by doing so it will be very difficult for anyone to catch