Gangster State

consumer trace records, Tshepiso and Nthongoa reside at an address in
Avonwold Road, Saxonwold. The house is about a kilometre away
from the Gupta compound and is owned by Confident Concept, one of
the Gupta family’s property-holding companies.
Further investigation revealed that Magashule used this property to
meet up with the Gupta brothers. A source who did business with the
Free State government said he was once asked to meet the premier at a
residence in Saxonwold. I showed him a picture of the house in
Avonwold Road and he confirmed that it was the place. When my
source got there, Magashule was with a man who looked vaguely
familiar. He would later realise that it was Atul Gupta.
The meeting took place in September 2015 , shortly before Free State
agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane was appointed as the new minister
of mineral resources in Zuma’s cabinet. My source said Magashule and
Atul discussed Zwane’s imminent promotion. Apparently Magashule
wanted Atul to bring certain issues concerning the appointment to
Zuma’s attention. ‘I asked Ace why he doesn’t just tell Zuma directly,’
my source told me. ‘He said the Guptas have more influence with
Zuma than he did.’
As a national minister, Zwane went on to become one of the most
prolific functionaries in the Guptas’ shadow state. All indications are
that he abused his position as mining minister to help the Guptas buy
the Optimum Coal Mine, one of their biggest cash cows thanks to
lucrative coal-supply contracts with Eskom. And when the Guptas’
empire started to unravel, Zwane threatened to punish the country’s
major banks after they decided to close the family’s accounts.
Zwane’s appointment as mining minister was, it seems, facilitated by
several connected businesspeople from the Free State who acted as