hanging over her head since her time as mayor. She was charged for
allegedly accepting bribes related to tenders awarded by the
Matjhabeng municipality between 2007 and 2009.^7 When the charges
were withdrawn in late 2016 , then premier Magashule released a
statement welcoming the development and claiming, incorrectly, that
Leeto had been found not guilty.^8 Leeto was charged again in February
2018 ,^9 only for the NPA to back down later that year.^10
It was from Leeto’s Matjhabeng municipality that Mpambani and
Mogoera scored some of their earliest projects as tenderpreneurs,
according to my sources. But they soon started to extend their reach.
One court record from a civil case in the Free State mentions the
involvement of Mpambani and Sechaba Solutions in a 2007 project to
construct a sewerage network for the Hoopstad municipality.^11 Sechaba
Solutions also got a foot in the door at the provincial Department of
Human Settlements in 2008 , when it got a small contract worth around
R 2 million.^12
Their fortunes improved dramatically, however, after Magashule
became Free State premier. In the 2009 / 10 financial year, Sechaba
Solutions’ earnings from the FSHS climbed from R 2 million to R 13
million thanks to a contract to construct subsidised houses in
Bultfontein, a small town some seventy-five kilometres from
Welkom.^13
Two sources who knew the businessmen well told me that Mogoera
and Mpambani became acquainted with Magashule shortly before he
became premier in 2009. One of these sources said Mogoera
‘supported’ Magashule in those early days. This alleged support
sometimes took the form of paying for buses whenever Magashule
organised political rallies in the province, claimed the source.
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