that the mayor was horrified.
When the premier excused himself to go to the bathroom, Atul told
Manyoni that his ‘body language’ betrayed a lack of enthusiasm. ‘It
doesn’t look like you want to work with us,’ he observed.
Given Manyoni’s apparent unwillingness to play along, conversation
soon fizzled – but not before Atul made one last attempt to persuade
him to join their ranks. He produced a large A 4 envelope stuffed with
cash and handed it to the mayor. This was for ‘organisational work’,
Atul told him. A shocked Manyoni quickly handed the envelope to
Magashule. He wanted no part in their murky dealings.
Magashule and Manyoni then took their leave and drove back to
Bloemfontein.
About a month later, however, the pair was back in Saxonwold.
Magashule had again driven Manyoni up the N 1 in his black BMW X 5
to the family’s compound, where Atul Gupta tried to ‘court’ the mayor
for a second time.
Magashule once again laid out the plan for Manyoni to succeed him
as premier. ‘Ace said he looked forward to me taking over as premier,
because then he wouldn’t have to deal with the province’s problems
any more,’ Manyoni told me.
But Manyoni once again disappointed them with his lack of
enthusiasm for the plan. After this second visit, no further attempts
were made to try to lure him into the Guptas’ state-capture network,
Manyoni said.
The former mayor now believes that his unwillingness to work with
the Guptas led to his political demise. The events that followed
certainly suggest this may be true.
After the elections in 2014 , Zuma did install a new minister of
nora
(Nora)
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