Moroadi Cholota has penned a nine-page letter with the assistance of her legal representative where she is detailing her ordeal at the hands of the Hawks and American FBI. In this letter, Cholota, who has a warrant of arrest against her, says at one point she woke up to a loud knocking and banging on her door by the FBI agent at her apartment in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States who then demanded that she goes with them.

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Cholota says once at the Sheraton Hotel in the US, they were met by two South African police investigators who, during the interrogation, appeared to “almost be pushing her towards giving more information and opinions on matters unrelated to the information in the affidavit” from the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. Cholota was expected to be the state witness against her former employer, Magashule, who is now facing charges of failure to report crimes that allegedly involve Magashule himself.

"On the 13th of November 2020, I found out with the rest of South Africans via newspapers articles that I was to be a state witness in the criminal case against my former boss, Mr Ace Magashule, and his co-accused comprising of senior officials from various government departments. Prior to this, not a single person had contacted me, informed me, nor asked whether or not I consented to be the so-called state witness in these criminal proceedings.

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"My legal representative would later inform me that, in fact, legislation requires that I be notified in writing that I will be required as a witness in criminal proceedings," she adds.

Cholota further explains that at the hotel and during the interrogation proceedings, "the questioning, while I had previously been under the impression that the questioning would be in line with that of the Zondo Commission, it seems the investigating officers wanted information that was not contained in the affidavit and appeared to be pushing me towards giving more information and opinions on matters unrelated to the information in the affidavit".

She explains that it is then that she felt uncomfortable and asked to answer questions in the presence of her lawyer - but the officials allegedly refused. "I questioned the reasoning behind such questions and indicated that I would be more comfortable answering such questions after double-checking them with a lawyer as I had not been prepared for that line of questioning and was unsure how to proceed," she adds.

Cholota says instead her request was denied, she was told that she has an attitude and her answers were of no value.

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She says following the interrogation at the Sheraton Hotel, she was again the following day escorted by FBI agents to the South African embassy in Washington DC. She says once at the embassy she was again refused someone with legal background to go through the interrogation and would instead be told "not to do what she did yesterday".

OFM News previously reported that the state prosecutor Johan de Nysschen on Wednesday 3 November 2021 told Judge President Cagney Musi that Cholota, who was deemed as the state witness in the failed R255 million housing project, was not cooperating with state detectives. De Nysschen said Cholota left them without a choice and she is now a suspect soon to be an accused in the matter. Cholota is said to be studying in the United States presently.

De Nyscchen said if Cholota does not get to South Africa before the trial starts, the trial would commence without her. He said when push came to shove, Cholota refused to cooperate.

OFM News