Gangster State

Management Act and other rules and regulations. Magashule allegedly
tried to force the department to employ people whom he had promised
jobs.
‘People went to the department and said Ace told them to go and
work there, but there were no jobs advertised and the jobs weren’t
budgeted for,’ said Marshoff. ‘When Ace promised to give someone a
job, he would make sure that person got the job.’ She reiterated a claim
made by almost every source I spoke to: Magashule deftly used the
promise of employment in provincial and municipal structures to his
advantage. As he did with the meat parcels from Glen College, he
handed out jobs to buy patronage.
After less than a year in the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and
Recreation, Magashule was once again fired by Marshoff. But his
political power kept growing. By that stage, the influence he wielded as
ANC Free State chair and chairperson of the party’s deployment
committee had turned him into the province’s most formidable political
force.
‘He determined who became mayor, municipal manager or CFO at all
the municipalities,’ explained Marshoff. ‘He abused this scenario and
influenced people at those municipalities to give tenders to people close
to him or to people he needed to support him.’
Municipal officials who failed to comply were apparently swiftly dealt
with. ‘Ace had the ability to instil a deathly fear in people,’ said
Marshoff. ‘Those who did not obey his orders were threatened with
redeployment, suspension or demotion. He was in control of people’s
careers, their futures, so they did as he asked them to do.’
A former municipal official in the Fezile Dabi district confirmed that
Magashule had his hands on the municipality’s finances long before he