Gangster State

A bar code on a computer captured in one of the photos showed that
the item belonged to the ‘Department of the Premier – Free State’. The
small mountain of potential evidence was allegedly taken to a house
located in one of the townships on the outskirts of Bloemfontein. I was
given an address.
Tiisetso Makhele, the spokesperson at the Office of the Premier, said
the Free State provincial government rejected the allegations ‘with the
contempt that they deserve’. He claimed the Hawks ‘seized all the
items they were searching for as part of their investigation’.
My contacts in the police and in the province’s political set-up,
however, said they were sure Magashule had been warned about the
raid. They also feared that future police investigations would be
similarly compromised. One of my sources, the former senior Hawks
officer, said Magashule’s influence over key personnel in the law-
enforcement environment did not end when he vacated his
Bloemfontein office for his new position at Luthuli House. ‘As SG, Ace
is still making himself heard within the SAPS and the Hawks,’ alleged
this source. ‘He is close to some very senior people in the police’s
national structures.’
If these allegations are anything to go by, it is interesting that both the
national police commissioner, Khehla Sithole, and the deputy
commissioner for crime detection, Lebeoana Tsumane, are former Free
State provincial commissioners. Sithole, who served as Free State
commissioner between 2011 and 2013 , became national commissioner
in November 2017.^2 This was one of Zuma’s final major appointments.
Sithole subsequently appointed Tsumane as one of his deputy
commissioners. Tsumane had led the SAPS in the Free State from late
2016 until his promotion to the national office in December 2017.^3