DA will demand answers from FS Premier on Magashule ATM funding allegations

22 September 2019

The DA will submit questions to Premier Sisi Ntombela regarding allegations made by the former Secretary General of the messianic churches Mr Buyisile Ngqulwana that former Free State Premier Ace Magashule instructed the Director General of the Province, Kopung Ralikotsane, to pay R141 000 to the African Transformation Foundation. It is alleged that this money was used to fund the formation and registration of the African Transformation Congress that later became a political party the African Transformation Movement.

If the allegations made in an affidavit are true, then it amounts to a serious malfeasance by former Premier Magashule. It would also imply serious misconduct by the Director General of the Free State in terms of the public service and disciplinary codes regarding the misuse of his position in the public service to promote or prejudice a political party.

A policy on the separation of party and state was drafted and implemented in the province after the Public Protector found that the Free State government under former Premier Magashule had prejudiced opposition parties by blurring the lines between party and state in the 2011 elections. The 2016 Public Protector report was based on complaints by the DA regarding the misuse of the Free State Provincial Government’s Operation Hlasela initiative for the ANC’s election campaign.

The accusations by Mr Ngqulwana indicate that Magashule’s actions were a direct result of Cyril Ramaphosa’s winning the ANC’s presidency. This would imply provincial government funds were used to divide the opposition and fight internal ANC battles.

The DA in the Free State Legislature will ensure that the truth is exposed and, if there is evidence of wrongdoing, that there will be accountability.

Issued by Roy Jankielsohn, DA MPL and Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Provincial Legislature, 22 September 2019