Gangster State

Magashule also conveniently left out the fact that it was not just
Tshepiso who was working for the Guptas. Several members of the
Magashule family had been doing the Guptas’ bidding, including the
premier himself, as evidenced by the meetings he allegedly facilitated
between Atul Gupta, Thabo Manyoni and Mxolisi Dukwana.
Tshepiso, the eldest of Magashule’s sons with his wife Seipati, started
working for the Guptas in November 2010 , about a year and a half
after his father was sworn in as premier of the Free State. He would
have been about twenty-seven years old.
A spreadsheet in the #GuptaLeaks shows that Tshepiso worked as a
consultant for Mabengela Investments, an entity in the Guptas’ stable
of companies. Duduzane Zuma was a shareholder and director of
Mabengela; therefore Tshepiso would have worked alongside the
president’s son.
In 2012 , Tshepiso earned a basic salary of just under R 60 000 a
month, according to the spreadsheet. Although not quite as generous as
the R 100 000 a month that Zuma Jnr earned at that point, for a twenty-
eight-year-old it was not bad.
Tshepiso proved to be a very useful link between his father and the
Guptas. The #GuptaLeaks illustrate his role as a conduit for
information between the premier’s administration, the ruling party and
Saxonwold.
In July 2014 , Magashule’s chief of staff, Janet Kay, emailed the
following request to Moipone Ngomane, the deputy director for
international relations in the Office of the Premier: ‘Tshepiso
Magashule, the Premier’s son has requested the Premier’s itinerary
whilst in India. I am not sure whether it’s confidential. If not, please
forward to him at [Tshepiso’s email address].’ Tshepiso was copied in