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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ace Magashule and his co-accused in the R225-million asbestos removal case will answer to charges including fraud, corruption, theft and racketeering over two months from April next year. And proceedings will go ahead, even if Magashule’s former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, who first spilled the beans about the contract before the State Capture Commission in 2019, is not yet extradited from the US.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule and his other co-accused appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein High Court in connection with a R225-million contract to identify and remove asbestos roofing from houses in Free State.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The trial date – set for 15 April to 23 June 2025 – means that Magashule will finally have to answer to his alleged role in the contract.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Friday, Judge Erin Aslan of the Maryland District Court ruled on Cholota’s extradition, stating that she knowingly participated in the scheme by using her government position to facilitate corrupt financial transactions. Cholota has since appealed the </span><a href=\"https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/maryland/mddce/1:2024mc00160/557744/25\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">judgment</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> declaring her extraditable.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more in Daily Maverick</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-12-ace-magashule-running-out-of-wiggle-room-after-us-court-approves-extradition-of-his-pa/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Ace Magashule running out of wiggle room after US court approves extradition of his PA”</span></a>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2231526\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ED_499006.jpg\" alt=\"Ave Magashule\" width=\"720\" height=\"418\" /> <em>Ace Magashule (far right) and his co-accused during an earlier appearance in the Bloemfontein High Court on 15 April 2024. (Photo: Mlungisi Louw / Volksblad / Gallo Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The R225-million asbestos contract relates to a joint venture between Edwin Sodi’s Blackhead Consulting and the late Ignatius Mpambani’s Diamond Hill Trading 74, which secured the lucrative contract from the Free State Department of Human Settlements in 2014. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other accused include Sodi; Thabane Zulu, the former director-general of the national Department of Human Settlements; Nthimotse Mokhesi; Mahlomola Matlakala; Sello Radebe; Adel Kgotso Manyeki; Nozipho Molikoe; Albertus Venter; Margaret-Ann Diedericks; and former MEC and Mangaung mayor Sarah “Olly” Mlamleli. In addition, Blackhead Consulting, 602 Consulting Solutions, Mastertrade 232, Ori Group and other companies are also facing charges. The accused faces more than 70 counts of corruption and money laundering.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2019, Moroadi spilled the beans about the R225-million asbestos contract before the Zondo Commission into State Capture.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In November 2020, a clearer picture of the asbestos saga emerged when </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-10-arrest-warrant-issued-for-anc-sg-ace-magashule-over-free-state-asbestos-saga/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scorpio’s Pieter-Louis Myburgh reported</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that a warrant of arrest had been issued for Magashule in connection with the asbestos removal contract in the Free State.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule was arrested and appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on 10 November 2020. He was </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-13-bail-granted-to-a-defiant-ace-magashule-who-faces-21-counts-of-corruption-and-fraud/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">released on R200,000</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bail. The NPA has been battling since </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-08-11-ace-magashule-questions-whether-former-assistant-has-actually-turned-state-witness/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">August 2021</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to get the matter to a point where a trial date could be set.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In April this year the matter was again postponed after it emerged Cholota was under arrest in the US at the time. The matter was postponed to Friday, 14 June.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Trial date</b></h4>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1006866 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Moroadi-Cholota-e1635964318373.jpg\" alt=\"ace magashule cholota\" width=\"720\" height=\"404\" /> <em>Moroadi Cholota, Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant, is fighting her extradition from the US. (Photo: Screenshot)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explaining</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Friday’s proceedings in the Bloemfontein High Court, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free State National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mojalefa Senokoatsane</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the prosecution informed the court that the State and the defence had agreed on a suitable date for the trial: 15 April to 23 June 2025</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The defence also informed the court that former MEC and Mangaung mayor Mlamleli was sick and could not be in court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The court was informed by the prosecution that the extradition process of Moroadi Cholota, who is currently in the United States of America, was still unfolding within Jurisdiction of America Courts and that it might take two months for the attorney-general to sign off on that extradition process. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The State will commence with the trial even if she is still not extradited at the commencement of the trial,” he said. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule told </span><a href=\"https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/multi-million-rand-asbestos-case-postponed/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SABC News</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: “Almost five years wasting time, money, resources, everything so deliberate. But because we want to see justice happening, we want to know who is corrupt, who is not corrupt. In April, I’m happy that the truth will come out. South Africans will know who is corrupt, who is not corrupt.” </span><b>DM</b>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ace Magashule and his co-accused in the R225-million asbestos removal case will answer to charges including fraud, corruption, theft and racketeering over two months from April next year. And proceedings will go ahead, even if Magashule’s former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, who first spilled the beans about the contract before the State Capture Commission in 2019, is not yet extradited from the US.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule and his other co-accused appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein High Court in connection with a R225-million contract to identify and remove asbestos roofing from houses in Free State.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The trial date – set for 15 April to 23 June 2025 – means that Magashule will finally have to answer to his alleged role in the contract.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Friday, Judge Erin Aslan of the Maryland District Court ruled on Cholota’s extradition, stating that she knowingly participated in the scheme by using her government position to facilitate corrupt financial transactions. Cholota has since appealed the </span><a href=\"https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/maryland/mddce/1:2024mc00160/557744/25\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">judgment</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> declaring her extraditable.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more in Daily Maverick</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-12-ace-magashule-running-out-of-wiggle-room-after-us-court-approves-extradition-of-his-pa/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Ace Magashule running out of wiggle room after US court approves extradition of his PA”</span></a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2231526\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2231526\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ED_499006.jpg\" alt=\"Ave Magashule\" width=\"720\" height=\"418\" /> <em>Ace Magashule (far right) and his co-accused during an earlier appearance in the Bloemfontein High Court on 15 April 2024. (Photo: Mlungisi Louw / Volksblad / Gallo Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The R225-million asbestos contract relates to a joint venture between Edwin Sodi’s Blackhead Consulting and the late Ignatius Mpambani’s Diamond Hill Trading 74, which secured the lucrative contract from the Free State Department of Human Settlements in 2014. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other accused include Sodi; Thabane Zulu, the former director-general of the national Department of Human Settlements; Nthimotse Mokhesi; Mahlomola Matlakala; Sello Radebe; Adel Kgotso Manyeki; Nozipho Molikoe; Albertus Venter; Margaret-Ann Diedericks; and former MEC and Mangaung mayor Sarah “Olly” Mlamleli. In addition, Blackhead Consulting, 602 Consulting Solutions, Mastertrade 232, Ori Group and other companies are also facing charges. The accused faces more than 70 counts of corruption and money laundering.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2019, Moroadi spilled the beans about the R225-million asbestos contract before the Zondo Commission into State Capture.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In November 2020, a clearer picture of the asbestos saga emerged when </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-10-arrest-warrant-issued-for-anc-sg-ace-magashule-over-free-state-asbestos-saga/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scorpio’s Pieter-Louis Myburgh reported</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that a warrant of arrest had been issued for Magashule in connection with the asbestos removal contract in the Free State.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule was arrested and appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on 10 November 2020. He was </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-13-bail-granted-to-a-defiant-ace-magashule-who-faces-21-counts-of-corruption-and-fraud/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">released on R200,000</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bail. The NPA has been battling since </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-08-11-ace-magashule-questions-whether-former-assistant-has-actually-turned-state-witness/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">August 2021</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to get the matter to a point where a trial date could be set.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In April this year the matter was again postponed after it emerged Cholota was under arrest in the US at the time. The matter was postponed to Friday, 14 June.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Trial date</b></h4>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1006866\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1006866 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Moroadi-Cholota-e1635964318373.jpg\" alt=\"ace magashule cholota\" width=\"720\" height=\"404\" /> <em>Moroadi Cholota, Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant, is fighting her extradition from the US. (Photo: Screenshot)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explaining</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Friday’s proceedings in the Bloemfontein High Court, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free State National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mojalefa Senokoatsane</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the prosecution informed the court that the State and the defence had agreed on a suitable date for the trial: 15 April to 23 June 2025</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The defence also informed the court that former MEC and Mangaung mayor Mlamleli was sick and could not be in court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The court was informed by the prosecution that the extradition process of Moroadi Cholota, who is currently in the United States of America, was still unfolding within Jurisdiction of America Courts and that it might take two months for the attorney-general to sign off on that extradition process. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The State will commence with the trial even if she is still not extradited at the commencement of the trial,” he said. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magashule told </span><a href=\"https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/multi-million-rand-asbestos-case-postponed/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SABC News</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: “Almost five years wasting time, money, resources, everything so deliberate. But because we want to see justice happening, we want to know who is corrupt, who is not corrupt. In April, I’m happy that the truth will come out. South Africans will know who is corrupt, who is not corrupt.” </span><b>DM</b>",
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Ace Magashule (far right) and his co-accused during an earlier appearance in the Bloemfontein High Court on 15 April 2024. (Photo: Mlungisi Louw / Volksblad / Gallo Images)
Moroadi Cholota, Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant, is fighting her extradition from the US. (Photo: Screenshot)