The Free State High Court has heard that former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule received R10m shortly after Edwin Sodi’s company was paid R230m for a tender in 2014 to remove asbestos roofing from houses.

A Business Day report notes Magashule and Sodi are among 13 people and five companies charged with corruption by the NPA relating to the R255m tender issued by the Free State’s Human Settlements Department. All have pleaded not guilty.

In entering his plea, Magashule said: ‘From the onset I pleaded not guilty publicly and I am formally doing so in court today.’

The NPA’s Advocate Nazeer Cassim said bank account statements, which are part of documents before the court, detailed the money flow and amounts Magashule and several high-ranking officials received after the tender.

Magashule was the Premier of the Free State when the tender was awarded to Sodi’s company, Black Head Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading joint venture.

Diamond Hill Trading was owned by Sodi’s late business partner Ignatius ‘Igo’ Mpambani, who was killed in 2017.

Cassim argued the tender was ‘clear-cut fraud’ because it was approved after Sodi’s company submitted a proposal for an unsolicited bid (a closed offer by a sole provider and not open to competitive bidding) to former Free State Department of Human Settlements head Nthimotse Mokhesi. Mokhesi allegedly received about R600 000 for a deposit on a property in return.

‘This tender was a thieves’ picnic,’ Cassim told the court.

‘This is a contract value of R255m. R230m was paid to Black Head Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading joint venture.’

Full Business Day report