Gangster State

became the ANC’s chief whip in the provincial legislature. He now no
longer had direct access to government coffers or contracts, but it
seems he still managed to involve himself in dodgy deals.
A Mail & Guardian report implicated Magashule and other politicians
in an alleged scheme in 2007 to extract kickbacks from a property
developer in exchange for their help in resolving a dispute over the sale
of a piece of land owned by the Mangaung metropolitan municipality.
Magashule denied the allegations, but did concede that he had met
with the developer.^8
‘I attended the meeting [with the property developer] in my capacity
as the provincial chairperson of the ANC and I was approached by
both parties to facilitate an amicable solution,’ he told the newspaper
when it broke the story in 2009. ‘It is not uncommon for me to
intervene in matters of governance, since the ANC is the ruling party in
government and has to obviously provide leadership and strategic
guidance on all matters of policy, especially those aimed at empowering
our people.’
In 2007 , the national leadership asked Marshoff once again to make
room for Magashule in her executive council. ‘They wanted me to
place him in another department that did not have access to a lot of
money,’ she said. Publicly, the national leadership’s motivation was to
try to secure peace and harmony in the battle-ridden province. Behind
the scenes, the Mbeki camp was on political manoeuvres.
In August, Magashule was appointed the Free State’s new MEC for
sport, arts, culture and recreation.^9 His presence in this new
government environment caused friction and problems. Rachel Sempe,
the department’s then head, apparently had her hands full trying to
stop Magashule from doing things that ran against the Public Finance