Gangster State

12 August. Included in her email was another sent to Magashule in
July that year from Refiloe Mokoena, who was at the time an acting
judge in the Bloemfontein and Johannesburg High Courts. ‘Dear
Premier,’ Mokoena had written. ‘Herewith please find the necessary
documents for purposes of settling my daughter’s university account.’
Mokoena’s daughter had been accepted into Lycoming College in the
United States, and she needed about R 150 000 to cover the first
tranche of fees. On 13 August, the day after Cholota forwarded
Mokoena’s request to Mpambani, the latter paid US$ 4 000 (roughly
R 51 000 at the time) from Diamond Hill’s account to help cover the
costs. The money was paid into Lycoming College’s account. On 18
August, Cholota thanked him in an email for the money. ‘Proof of
payment received and acknowledged. Thank you very much,’ she
wrote.
Mokoena’s stint as an acting High Court judge came to an end in
January 2016.^3 She later became head of legal at the South African
Revenue Service, where she played a key role in a VAT scandal
involving the Guptas and then SARS boss Tom Moyane.^4 Mokoena
was also a member of the new board for state-owned arms
manufacturer Denel appointed by then public enterprises minister
Lynne Brown in mid- 2015. This board later approved questionable
deals between Denel and the Gupta-linked company VR Laser, fuelling
suspicions that Mokoena and her colleagues had been appointed by the
Saxonwold shadow state. It is not clear when or how Mokoena met
Magashule.
After contributing to Mokoena’s daughter’s college fees, Mpambani
returned to Johannesburg, where he withdrew R 200 000 from 605
Consulting’s account at FNB’s Merchant Place branch in Sandton.