‘Magashule’s sons on luxury trip to Dubai’

Premier will not comment on claims

Free State premier Ace Magashule may have visited the Gupta family’s Saxonwold, Johannesburg, home in October 2012, leaked e-mails reveal.

Contained in a tranche of leaked e-mails, an Outlook diary entry for October 2 schedules a meeting between “Gift Father” and Tony Gupta at the family’s Saxonwold compound, believed to be a reference to the premier’s son Tshepiso Gift Magashule – who has long been rumoured to be very close to the family.

The meeting on Outlook was created by Tony, according to the e-mails.

Magashule’s links to the controversial family are quickly becoming clearer – with the Sunday Times reporting yesterday that both Tshepiso and Thato, Magashule’s other son, benefited with an eightday stay at the super luxurious Oberoi hotel in Dubai on Sahara computer’s account in December 2015.

The luxury getaway was little over a year after the Guptas scored nearly half a billion rand in the Estina dairy farm project in the Free State town of Vrede – the hometown of Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane. At the time, Zwane was the agriculture MEC and the funds for the dairy farm were paid from his department. If in fact Magashule did meet Tony in October 2012, the R570-million dairy project kicked off within six months of their sit down.

The Mail and Guardian reported in February 2014 that National Treasury investigators found the project was “riddled with irregularities” and it was revealed in previous exposés by the newspaper that the man in charge was a former IT specialist with very little dairy farming knowledge and strong links to the Gupta family.

Further e-mails show that Tony received a request for airtime amounting to R43 000, apparently from Magashule, during the 2014 general elections.

An e-mail sent by former Free State legislature director Moside Motsemme asked for R120 of airtime for each of the ANC’s 362 Free State agents. It reads “as per directive of the FS ANC chairperson”. The request was then forwarded to Tony Gupta.

Magashule was not immediately available for comment yesterday, but his spokesman Tiisetso Makhele issued a statement on Saturday saying the premier would not be commenting. “The Free State premier has noted the so-called e-mail communications circulating in various media circles. The provincial government has noted the relevant authorities, including the Hawks, have embarked on investigations which are intended to test the validity and authenticity of such e-mails.”

‘‘ The Free State premier has noted the so-called e-mails circulating in various media