By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The High Court in the Free State granted the former Free State premier Ace Magashule’s personal assistant Moroadi Cholota plea for a trial-within-a-trial in the R255 million asbestos corruption case.
Cholota wants to challenge court’s jurisdiction and legality of extradition from United States. She argues the court has no jurisdiction to hold her criminally liable.
Cholota made a special plea on Thursday.
Judge Phillip Loubser has agreed to go ahead with a trial-within-a-trial.
“Having regard to the case law, the norm is no doubt that it should be decided first and separately. The state was unable to refer the court to any specific authority to the contrary,” Loubser ruled.
“The special plea of no jurisdiction raised by accused 17 (Cholota) in terms of Section 106.1(f) of the Criminal Procedure Act, is to be decided first and separately before commencement of the main trial proceedings.”
In 2019, Cholota spilled the beans about the asbestos contract, before the State Capture Commission into State Capture.
Cholota’s testimony before the commission revealed much about the intermediary role she played in requesting financial favours from people like the slain Igo Mpambani, on behalf of her boss.
She was summoned to appear before the commission after being singled out by the former MEC of Economic Development in the Free State Mxolisi Dukwana, as one of the staffers who was privy to Magashule’s allegedly shady dealings with Mpambani.
The Bloemfontein High Court learned in November 2021 that a warrant for Cholota, who was studying in the US, had been signed. This came after she initially agreed and then refused to be a state witness in the corruption case in which Magashule is one of the accused.
Johan de Nysschen, the state prosecutor at the time, informed the court that Cholota was a state witness. Magashule, on the other hand, wanted her to testify for the defence.
“She is not cooperating… We’re going to charge her because there’s evidence implicating her,” the NPA said at the time.
Cholota’s extradition slowed the start of the asbestos trial. The case was postponed in April 2024 after it was revealed that Cholota was being held in the US.
Cholota was arrested in the US on 12 April 2024 and brought to court. A US court heard that South African authorities had charged her with four counts of fraud and five counts of corruption, in violation of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
Following the delay, the asbestos case was heard again in June 2024. At this point, the court ruled that the trial date would be April to June 2025, even if Cholota was not extradited by that date.
Cholota’s extradition was approved on 7 June by Judge Erin Aslan of the Maryland District Court.
In this judgment, Aslan pointed out: “Cholota is alleged to have knowingly engaged in this scheme by using her government position to facilitate corrupt financial transactions.”
Cholota is one of the accused, alongside Magashule in the R255-million asbestos scandal, which included charges of fraud, corruption, theft and racketeering. She faces five charges, which include fraud and corruption stemming from the scandal.
These charges stem from a contract awarded in 2014 by the Free State department of human settlements to a joint venture between Diamond Hill Trading and Blackhead Consulting.
The other co-accused are businessman Edwin Sodi, former director-general of national Department of Housing Thabane Zulu, as well as Nthimotse Mokhesi, Mahlomola Matlakala, Sello Radebe, Adel Kgotso Manyeki, Nozipho Molikoe, Albertus Venter, Margaret-Ann Diedericks and former MEC and Mangaung mayor Olly Mlamleli.