Gangster State

the SIU’s investigative efforts. ‘We were told by the department that
Open Water took computers, documents and other records,’ this source
said. ‘When we asked for certain documents, Open Water would tell us
they didn’t have it.’
Contrary to normal investigative procedure, Open Water also allegedly
failed to compile a record of what exactly they had taken from the
department. This added to the SIU’s headaches. ‘When we asked for a
certain document or contract and Open Water said they didn’t have it,
there was no record of what they had taken to determine if they were
being honest with us,’ said my SIU source.
Most alarmingly, the Open Water team allegedly took some
documents related to the R 1 -billion splurge to Magashule’s office. ‘All
the documents were taken to Ace’s office on the fourth floor [of the
Lebohang Building in downtown Bloemfontein],’ claimed one current
FSHS insider.
Pieterse denied all of this. ‘We kept detailed inventories of each
document removed from the department as well as the documentation
and electronic data returned.’ He said he knew nothing about
documents that may have been taken to Magashule’s office. ‘The
investigation relied on a vast number of records and to remove certain
records to “take” to the Office of the Premier would serve no purpose
to influence the outcome of the investigation,’ Pieterse maintained.
The Open Water CEO said the firm had ‘never obstructed or
prevented any investigative agency in performing their work and has
always and will always co-operate with such agencies, which was also
the situation in the FS housing matter.’
However, the tone of his response made it clear that there had indeed
been friction between Open Water and the SIU. ‘The SIU was