Gangster State

series of shell companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).^9 Of this
fortune, R 30 million had made its way back to South Africa to help
settle the bills for their niece’s lavish wedding at Sun City in 2013.
In the end, the Free State government paid Estina a whopping R 334
million,^10 seemingly with little to show for it.
After Cyril Ramaphosa’s victory at the ANC’s elective conference at
Nasrec in December 2017 , the Hawks and the NPA began to move on
the Estina scandal. There were raids in early 2018 at the Gupta estate
in Saxonwold, at the provincial Department of Agriculture in
Bloemfontein and even at Magashule’s office. The Hawks arrested a
group of Gupta associates, including their nephew, Varun, and three
former provincial officials. But in December 2018 the NPA
provisionally withdrew its charges against the eight accused. It seemed
like a lack of cooperation from Indian and UAE authorities had made it
impossible for the NPA to prove that the Guptas had orchestrated an
elaborate cross-border money-laundering operation with the proceeds
of the dairy project.^11 It remains to be seen if anyone will be convicted
over the matter.
The legal proceedings may have ground to a halt, but not before one
of the myriad court filings implicated Magashule as an apparent early
role-player in the Vrede project. An affidavit filed by Peter Thabethe,
the Department of Agriculture’s former HOD and one of the Vrede
accused, included a very interesting titbit. He claimed Ashok Narayan,
a known Gupta associate, had acted as an ‘advisor’ to Magashule
during early 2012 , when plans for the dairy project were being put
together. He also claimed that Magashule had approved a trip to India
that Thabethe and Narayan embarked on in order to do research for the
dairy.^12 In other words, the then premier had been intimately involved