Gangster State

Mokoena was no doubt well acquainted with Magashule. After all, he
had been the municipal manager in Magashule’s hometown of Parys
from 2011 to 2013.^19 Mokoena’s conduct at the Department of Mineral
Resources suggests that he was as eager as Zwane to further the
Guptas’ interests. For instance, he fired an official for serving non-
compliance notices on Gupta-owned collieries in Mpumalanga.^20
Richard Seleke is another former Free State government official who
was later called upon to serve in the Guptas’ state-capture enterprise.
He was the HOD at the Free State Department of Economic
Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs when he was
appointed to the Transnet board in late 2014.^21 At the time, Zwane was
the MEC for this department, his last posting in Magashule’s executive
council (apart from a brief return to agriculture) before his promotion
to Zuma’s cabinet. Transnet has, of course, been at the centre of the
Gupta narrative.
In 2015 , Seleke was appointed as director-general of the Department
of Public Enterprises, the custodian of state-owned entities (SOEs)
such as Transnet and Eskom. Emails in the #GuptaLeaks reveal that
about six months beforehand, his résumé was sent to Duduzane Zuma
from a mysterious email account with the alias ‘Business Man’.
Judging by the email’s content, it appeared as if Seleke was behind the
account. ‘Evening sir please find attached my CV and supporting
documents,’ Business Man wrote to Zuma Jnr.^22
More disturbingly, this same account was used to forward confidential
information about certain SOEs to the Guptas.^23 Seleke denied all
knowledge of the emails, but in October 2018 he stepped down as
director-general amid the ongoing probes into his relationship with the
controversial family.^24