Gangster State

he would have known if Magashule was part of this network. ‘If Ace
was really recruited by Sotso, he would have had no problem
remembering his name and surname.’
He added that Tate Makgoe, the current member of the executive
council (MEC) for education in the Free State, was a member of that
MK cell. ‘Ask Tate if Ace was in that cell, or if he was even in MK,’ he
urged me. Unfortunately, Makgoe chose not to respond to my queries.
When asked to provide a more concrete description of his role in the
MK underground for the ANC Oral History Project, Magashule seemed
vague on the details: ‘Well, I have done a lot of groundwork internally
in the country. As I said there was this internal high team, in the early
80 s, ’ 83 , ’ 84 upwards. That’s when we became more active in the
underground work.’ He added that he had been ‘given some
instructions to remain in the country, [to] remain operating
underground’.
My source from MK in the Parys area asked who gave Magashule
these instructions. Papi Kganare was also curious. ‘Who else was in
his cell? Who was his commander? Ace has not been able to provide
such details because he was not in MK,’ he insisted.
According to Magashule, he interacted with and received instruction
from the very top echelon of the ANC’s leadership structure in the late
1980 s. When asked about his commanders for the ANC Oral History
Project, he replied with the following: ‘As I said I’ve been working
with, eh ... some of those comrades have passed away who were my
commanders. One of my commanders was a simple guy called Benji
Tsholota. You know, because of my high-profile activities I was not
made any commander I was just commanded by young guys of which I
appreciated. But there were guys from exile in the underground who