Is Magashule the right card to lead Free State again?

African Congress for Transformation (ACT) leader Ace Magashule. Picture: Gallo Images/Getty Images

If murmurings are to be believed, then calls are growing for former premier Ace Magashule to return and lead in the Free State, according to the African Congress for Transformation (ACT).

You’ve got to be kidding. The former ANC secretary-general, premier from 2009 to 2018, has been hit by a raft of allegations of fraud and corruption.

Most notably are the charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act in relation to a R255 million asbestos tender corruption case – all relating to his time as premier.

As a result, in May 2021, he was suspended as ANC secretary-general and expelled from the party two years later. He started the ACT in 2023.

As part of The Citizen’s build-up to next month’s elections, we have been visiting various provinces to hear how frustrated communities are with local government, especially when it comes to service delivery. During our visit to the Free State, ACT secretary-general Ntando Ngoma-Mbutuma praised Magashule.

She said: “There is a demand for him to lead. I know in his hometown of Ngwathe they want him to lead. I know in Matjhabeng, where we are, they want him to lead. A lot of opposition party leaders actually believe that things were better in his time, that even that political party he was heading at the time as chair was stronger when he was at the helm.”

She added: “I know that Metsimaholo wants him to lead.”

And would Magashule even want to another leadership role with all the dark clouds over his head?

Magashule told EWN: “I am available to serve,” adding if people criticised him for moving from high-profile positions to mayor of a small town in the Free State, “those are people who do not understand politics and those are people who do not understand how to serve”.

Magashule hasn’t been found guilty. But when your community is suffering from lack of service delivery, do you really want to put your faith in a politician who has so many allegations of corruption hanging over him?

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