Addressing journalists on Wednesday at the small farming community of Arlington, Ace Magashule, says if elected by branches of the ANC to stand - he will enter the fray.

Magashule is currently entangled in a criminal case playing out in the Bloemfontein High Court over the failed R255 million Asbestos project where he and others (including former Mangaung Mayor Olly Mlamleli, and businessman Edwin Sodi), face fraud and corruption charges among others.

He was suspended by the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) in May 2021, after the Hawks in the Province decided to indict him along with others over the Asbestos project.

The failed project was carried out by the provincial Department of Human Settlements in 2014, when Mlamleli was the MEC for the department.

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In March this year Judge Soma Naidoo dismissed Magashule and three co-accused’s civil litigation in an attempt to have charges related to the Project thrown out of court.

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The asbestos criminal case, where the suspects are facing charges ranging from fraud, corruption, and money laundering, was postponed to 10 June 2022.

The accused in this case includes Sodi; 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; and Albertus Venter, who occupied a role in the Free State Premier’s office.

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