This is despite suspended ANC Secretary-General, Ace Magashule, who is one of the accused, claiming the contrary. The former Free State Premier’s legal team has demanded access to the list of witnesses that incriminate him in the case. NPA spokesperson, Mthunzi Mhaga, tells the media they’re not going to get into a public spat with the accused over witness lists when probed by media.

“We’re not going to hassle in the media with the accused on who is a state witness, and which statement has been signed or not signed. We have a formidable case that was presented to us by the law enforcement. We have interrogated that case, we have interrogated that evidence. When the trial date has been set, all that will be clear. We’re not going to get into a blow-by-blow account on who is a witness or not. All will be clear when the trial starts”.

Magashule is also disputing one of the charges against him related to oversight, saying there is no such thing. The state’s contention is that Magashule should have reported corruption in his provincial government, but failed to do so.

Meanwhile, the pre-trial proceedings into the R255 million asbestos housing audit case have been postponed to 3 November. This is to allow all the accused ample time to submit their responding affidavits to the charges leveled against them by the state.

The accused in this case includes Limpopo bred businessman, Edwin Sodi; former Mangaung Metro Mayor, Olly Mlamleli; the former head of the Free State Department of Human Settlements, Nthimotse Mokhesi; the Director for Supply Chain Management at Human Settlements, Mahlomola John Matlakala; a businessman residing in Johannesburg, Sello Joseph Radebe; a Pretoria businessman, Abel Kgotso Manyeki; the former Director-General for the National Department of Human Settlements, Thabane Wiseman Zulu, amongst others; and Albertus Venter who occupied a role in the Free State Premier’s office.

It’s alleged Sodi irregularly awarded the housing audit tender via his joint venture with Diamond Hill Trading, owned by murdered Welkom businessman, Igo Mpambani, by the Free State Human Settlements Department in 2014. Not only was the tender irregular but it is reported that kickbacks were given to some of the accused. The implicated group is facing more than 70 counts of fraud, theft, attempted theft, corruption, and money laundering. Following their arrests, the suspects were released on bail of R50 000 to R500 000.

One of the state’s key witnesses is expected to be Magashule’s former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, who is said to be studying in the United States presently. As outlined in Pieter Louis Myburgh’s Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule's Web of Capture, Cholota made several requests for money transactions to Mpambani.

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