When Moroadi Cholota, a former personal assistant to Ace Magashule, landed at the OR Tambo International Airport, the state paraded her before the media as though she were a notorious hoodlum.
The state’s performance did not end there. Last Monday, they doubled down on the drama by opposing her bail application.
Despite their best efforts to keep the show going, after spending scarce taxpayer money on an extradition application in the US, the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court granted Cholota bail for a mere R2 500.
Magistrate Estelle de Lange did not buy into state prosecutor Johannes de Nysschen’s passionate argument that Cholota posed a flight risk.
De Lange said the claim that Cholota was either a flight risk or difficult to locate was unfounded.
Asbestos corruption scandal
Cholota faces accusations of involvement in the asbestos corruption scandal associated with Magashule, who was then, until 2017, the Free State premier.
The accused face allegations of fraud, corruption, theft, and racketeering in a R225-million tender to remove asbestos roofs across the Free State.
Cholota’s successful bail application on Thursday did more than secure her temporary freedom. It also exposed the state’s less-than-stellar extradition case presented before the US courts.
Here, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority had painted Cholota as a fleeing fugitive. They neglected to mention that she was abroad to pursue her studies.
This week, through her lawyers, Cholota recounted her harrowing experience with law enforcement, likening their methods to “apartheid-style” tactics.
She described events during a three-day joint interrogation with the FBI in Washington in September 2021, during which she steadfastly refused to implicate Magashule in any wrongdoing.
What to expect as a state witness
In court on Thursday, Cholota painted a grim picture of what those targeted as future state witnesses might expect.
“The state will give assurances as to what they require testimony on and then turn around and renege on those assurances,” she said.
“The state will then pressure and coerce you to give specific information to them, and when you refuse, the state will threaten and intimidate you with charges.
“If you stay firm, the state will falsely accuse you and hire private forensic investigators to conjure and find evidence against you.
“And if you’re still not swayed, they’ll label you a fugitive and claim you have ties to Kenya to justify refusing you bail.”
Apartheid-era tactics
Cholota described her media parade, shackled and under heavy guard, as a deliberate attempt to humiliate and degrade her.
“The state will then unreasonably oppose your release from jail, ensuring your liberty is denied as a punitive measure.
“It is surprising that the state appears offended when their conduct is compared to apartheid-era tactics.
“They allege that my version, which they’ve corroborated in their own documents, is defamatory. But the truth is not defamatory.”
Following the replying affidavit by Cholota through her lawyer, advocate Loyiso Makapela, De Nysschen quipped: “I did not know that the state was such a villain,” before formally rejecting the allegations.
