Gangster State

About two weeks before the law-enforcement body rolled into the Free
State, Kopung Ralikontsane, the director-general in Magashule’s office,
allegedly warned fellow provincial officials about the pending raids.
‘We knew the Hawks were coming well in advance,’ one current MEC
told me. ‘Ace’s DG told us to be ready.’ Someone within the law-
enforcement environment must have tipped off Magashule or one of his
colleagues.
The sources I spoke to were not surprised by allegations that
Magashule’s office knew about the raid beforehand. ‘Ace was in total
control of the Hawks and the police in the Free State,’ Beatrice
Marshoff, Magashule’s predecessor as premier, said when I interviewed
her about Noby Ngombane’s murder. A former senior Hawks officer
told me that this influence stretched beyond the Free State’s borders.
‘There were top-level people in the Hawks and the SAPS who were
looking out for Ace all these years,’ this person alleged. ‘Whenever a
member of the public or a government official laid a criminal complaint
that involved Ace or one of his associates, that news would very
quickly reach Ace’s ears.’
Judging by an event that occurred shortly before the raid, it seems
Magashule had indeed been tipped off. Allegedly, a small group of men
removed heaps of documents, computers, printers and other items from
the Office of the Premier a few days before the raid. Two sources
familiar with the development claimed the men had been instructed to
get rid of material that could have implicated Magashule and some of
his colleagues in dodgy government deals. My sources gave me the
name of a former staffer in Magashule’s office who allegedly oversaw
the operation. They also showed me photographs of the computers,
documents and other items. It was enough material to fill a small room.