Gangster State: Magashule caught out in a lie

5 April 2019

In an interview with ENCA yesterday, Ace Magashule called the author of Gangster State, Pieter-Louis Myburgh, a “blatant liar” and spoke of “simple lies” and “false, fabricated stories.”

Ironically, in the same interview, Magashule got caught out in a lie of his own.

Yesterday on ENCA Magashule claimed that the author of Gangster State, Pieter-Louis Myburgh, didn’t send him questions prior to the publication of the book. Magashule said: “When did he send me sixty questions? Where did he send those sixty questions to?”

On Monday, however, in an interview on SAFM, Acting National Spokesperson for the ANC, Dakota Legoete, confirmed that sixty questions were sent to Magashule. “These questions were sent to Mr Magashule a long time ago,” he said. Legoete went on to say that he also received the questions and personally shared them with Magashule. 

Penguin Random House can confirm that Pieter-Louis Myburgh did send 60 questions to Ace Magashule by mid-February 2019, and that he was given 14 days to respond. However, no response was forthcoming.

We are not afraid of Mr Magashule’s threats. We will continue to stand by the author of Gangster State, and we will continue to stand up for the freedom to publish without political pressure.

Issued by Surita Joubert on behalf of Penguin Random House SA, 5 April 2019