Magashule in the ANC’s factional battles, former business partners,
colleagues in the provincial government and local legislature, and
friends from his hometown. Even his daughter later tapped into the
scheme.
This wholesale capture of the province’s housing budget was achieved
by staffing the FSHS with people who could be trusted to act on
Magashule’s orders. Current and former department insiders attested to
a government environment in which the premier loomed in the
background to ensure that his friends and associates got the most
lucrative housing contracts. ‘Ace has spoken,’ one former department
staffer was told by his superior when he queried a 2012 contract
awarded to a known Magashule ally without a tender process.
The premier’s meddling, detailed in subsequent chapters of this book,
appears to have forced department officials to override or ignore the
rules and laws that govern how the state should spend its money. This
reckless disregard for prescribed procurement standards is reflected in
reports by the auditor-general, which show that the department
incurred irregular expenditure totalling a jaw-dropping R 7 billion in the
nine years that Magashule ruled over the Free State.^2
To put this into context, in 2013 / 14 the Gauteng Department of
Human Settlements spent R 4. 2 billion, of which R 461 million, or
roughly 10 per cent, was found to be irregular.^3 In the same year, the
much smaller FSHS spent about R 1. 5 billion, but managed to rack up
irregular expenditure of R 857 million, or 57 per cent of total spend.^4
And 2013 / 14 was a relatively good year. In some financial years, as
much as 80 ( 2015 / 16 ) and even 90 per cent ( 2011 / 12 ) of the
department’s expenditure was classified as irregular by the auditor-
general.^5 The main culprits appeared to be contracts for housing
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