Author of 'Gangster State' ready to defend his book
The author of a new book titled "Gangster State - Unravelling Magashule's Web of Capture" says he stands ready to defend the claims that place African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Ace Magashule at the center of nearly a decade of corruption and state capture in the Free State.
On Sunday, the Sunday Times and the City Press newspapers revealed explosive details contained in the book, including how Magushule tapped into dodgy dealings when he was Premier of the Free State.
Invetigative Journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh says his book lays bare how Magashule allegedly received pay outs from the proceeds of a contentious R230 million asbestos deal that was awarded to his Human Settlement Department in 2014, while he was Premier.
"Another issue that I tackle in the book is Mr. Magaushule's dealings with the Guptas which has come to the surface before, but there is now new evidence and new information coming from a Mr. Thabo Manoyi who was the mayor of Bloemfontein around 2013,", says Myburgh.
"He was taken to the Gupta's compound in Saxwold, Johannesburg, by Premier Magashule and there some very concerning suggestions were made by Mr. Autal Gupta who they met with that Mr. Manoyi would become Premier of the Free State, and that Mr. Magashule would be moved to President Jacob Zuma's cabinet. He (Magashule) would become the new Minister of Communication, so the Gupats basically vetted Mr. Manoyi and wanted to see if he was willing to work with them."
The ANC has dismissed these claims, describing it in a statement as propaganda.
"The front page stories in both the Sunday Times and City Press which are almost identical in content, and even have whole paragraphs with exactly the same wording, are based on a typical Stratcom style fake-news book by Pieter-Louis Myburgh, with the sensationalist and ridiculously propagandistic title, 'Gangster State - Unravelling Ace Magashule's Web of Capture'.
"Myburgh has since 2016 been disseminating lies about the Secretary-General, so we see this book as a culmination of all those lies," the statement read.
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In the statement, the ruling party also makes reference to how the Sunday Times has lied before about a particular article which involved the so-called SARS rouge unit and about the Cato Manor killings.
"The Sunday Times is actually on record to have admitted that they have published fake news stories, as part of specific political machinations. These included that there was no SARS rogue unit and the lies that they published about the Cato Manor killings which they admitted was politically manipulated, to mention only two examples among many."
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), Zwelinzima Vavi, says that these articles cannot be propaganda as the media is in love with current ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
"The reality is that the pieces of that news have been in the media for ages, no one can claim to be shocked. All we can be shocked about is the response to the story by the secretary general saying that he won't answer any questions because he's working on a decisive ANC victory for the elections," Vavi said.