Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota granted bail of R2,500

15 Aug 2024

The Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Thursday granted Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota bail in the Free State asbestos case after finding she was not a flight risk.

The State’s affidavit contained no evidence to support the claim that Moroadi Cholota, the former personal assistant of corruption accused former Free State premier Ace Magashule, was a flight risk. There was evidence that she could be located when needed and her life would be put on hold if she was held in custody until the asbestos case was resolved.

This was the gist of the judgment handed down by the magistrate Estelle de Lange in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Thursday when she granted Cholota bail of R2,500.

In terms of the bail conditions, Cholota is not allowed to leave Bloemfontein without the consent of the investigating officer and must report to Park Road Police Station every Monday and Friday.

In granting the low bail amount, the court accepted the arguments of Cholota’s lawyer Loyiso Makapela that Cholota was unemployed and did not have any financial means.

The State had opposed Cholota’s bail application on the basis that she was a flight risk. Cholota was last week extradited from the US, where she had been studying.

Read more: Ace Magashule’s ex-PA Moroadi Cholota is a flight risk who should remain behind bars, argues State

Cholota had been in detention since being arrested in the US on 12 April. A US court heard that South African authorities had charged her with four counts of fraud and five counts of corruption. Her extradition was approved in June by the Maryland District Court.

She is accused alongside Magashule and others in the R255-million Free State asbestos scandal.

Read more: Ferraris, Bentley, Merc and a mansion — how Free State asbestos ‘loot’ bankrolled a life of luxury

The other co-accused are businessman Edwin Sodi, the former director-general of the National Department of Human Settlements Thabane Zulu, as well as Nthimotse Mokhesi, Mahlomola Matlakala, Sello Radebe, Adel Kgotso Manyeki, Nozipho Molikoe, Albertus Venter, Margaret-Ann Diedericks, and former MEC and Mangaung mayor Olly Mlamleli.

The companies Blackhead Consulting, 602 Consulting Solutions, Mastertrade 232 and Ori Group have also been charged.

Cholota’s testimony before the State Capture Commission in 2019 is key to this trial. It revealed much about the intermediary role she played in allegedly requesting financial favours from people like the slain businessman Igo Mpambani on behalf of Magashule.

Read more: Wife of Ace Magashule’s murdered ‘bagman’ in R20m SARS bind

Cholota’s replying arguments

Cholota said she was not guilty of any of the charges against her.

Read more: ‘I’m innocent of all charges,’ says Ace Magashule’s ex-PA on her first day in Bloem court

She denied the State’s allegation that she had never intended to return to South Africa to face trial.

“I was already studying at Bay Atlantic University [in Washington, DC] when the Zondo Commission sent me a summons requesting me to appear before it and give oral testimony.”

She said she travelled from the US to Johannesburg to testify.

“The investigators knew where I was and what I was doing at all times. I never avoided any trial as no such trial was under way. The State simply opted to file a request for my extradition,” she said.

Cholota said the State had hired a private company, FTI Consulting, to conduct a forensic investigation on her. The report was included in the South African government’s request for her extradition.

“I’m advised that the extradition request was sent to the US in 2022, which means that the State went to the extent of contracting private … forensic investigators to search for more evidence to create the impression of a credible case to the US.

“The asbestos case has been investigated at length by other state agencies over and above the State Capture Commission. In none of the reports was I ever mentioned, let alone implicated. It speaks volumes of the lengths the State would go to falsely accuse a person that it would even contract private forensic investigators,” she said.

Choloto said the State had suggested her alleged crimes involved R86.5-million, which she said was “not found anywhere in the current charge sheet. I’m advised this is an appalling display of the State’s disregard for lawful and constitutional criminal procedure.”

Cholota’s ‘secret bank account’

In reply, prosecutor Johannes de Nysschen said the defence had not properly read the indictment. All the counts, he stated, on which Cholota would stand trial added up to R86.5-million.

On the appointment of FTI Consulting, he told the court that the Hawks investigating officer had attached an extract to his affidavit from the firm’s report on the saga, which came to more than 30,000 pages.

He said Cholota played a key role in the alleged corruption scheme and investigators found that she had two bank accounts, one for her salary and a second that “was like a secret account”.

He said Cholota received thousands of rands from service providers who did business with the Free State government. He said there were cash deposits into the account linked to Magashule and government contractors.

“This is totally illegal. Cholota was busy with a lot of underhanded dealings,” said De Nysschen.

He said the FTI report “found that Magashule and Cholota had a relationship that stretched beyond the normal duties of a personal assistant and that she was entrusted with private matters of the then premier".

“As we indicated in the indictment, when R15-, R20- or R30-million was paid into their accounts, then the emails run from Cholota. Magashule and Cholota used their positions to either solicit payments from service providers for the benefit of other government officials or possible own benefit or to defraud the department and to misappropriate funds earmarked for students,” said De Nysschen.

Magistrate De Lange reiterated that the main argument against bail was that the State saw Cholota as a flight risk.

“I do not find any evidence in the State’s affidavit to support the claim that Cholota is a flight risk and that there is a likelihood that she will not stand trial…

“It is safe to conclude that this will be a lengthy, drawn-out trial which could take several months or years to finalise. Cholota’s life will come to a standstill if she is detained in custody until the matter is finalised,” said De Lange.

The matter was postponed until Friday when a pretrial date will be set for the case to be heard in the Bloemfontein High Court. DM

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Cholota’s replying arguments

Cholota’s ‘secret bank account’