There are further indications of contact between Magashule and the
Guptas early in his first term as premier. In January 2011 , Gupta
staffer Joleen Roux negotiated with a car rental company for a
chauffeur-driven sedan. Apparently someone from the Gupta family or
their clique was set to visit their powerful friend in the Free State.
‘Can you see if there is anything available for us on Friday. We are
actually waiting to get confirmation from the premier of free state office
to confirm appointment,’ Roux wrote in her email to the rental
company.
By 2015 , at the pinnacle of their capture of the state, the Guptas
viewed Magashule as one of their most important allies in government.
This is seen in those #GuptaLeaks related to the 2015 edition of
Gupta-owned news channel ANN 7 ’s South African of the Year
Awards. One document shows that Magashule was to be seated at the
event with Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Faith Muthambi and Mosebenzi
Zwane. The document refers to the group as the ‘A team’.
We know that the Guptas did not cosy up to political leaders like
Magashule for the purpose of making friends. To them, every new
connection in government represented a fresh business opportunity.
The Free State premier was no exception.
This is best illustrated by another document from the #GuptaLeaks. In
June 2011 , Santosh Choubey, a Gupta associate best known for his
involvement with Sahara Computers, created an Excel spreadsheet
titled ‘Copy of Free State Schools’. It is a record of hundreds of
government schools, Further Education and Training (FET) colleges,
libraries and provincial departments that ‘subscribed’ to some or other
Gupta-provided product or service around that time.
The document does not explicitly state the nature of the subscriptions,
nora
(Nora)
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