ACE PLOT REVEALED

“We are sorry, we did not want to open a case, and we love our chairman,” said two young men from an impoverished township of Winburg who were allegedly bribed to open an assault case against premier Ace Magashule.

The alleged assault occurred after chaos erupted during a branch general meeting held in Winburg last year. The incident led to a national media frenzy, with Magashule’s political opponents using it to tarnish his reputation.

An investigation conducted by The Weekly then established that the allegations by the two were nothing but a conspiracy aimed at tainting Magashule’s reputation. This was after several high profile sources who were present at the meeting confirmed that Magashule never assaulted the duo as per media reports. They subsequently opened a case against him.

In an exclusive interview this week, the two boys, Joel Maleka and Mzwanele Moletsane, said they were promised jobs and money if they acted against the ANC provincial chairperson. They have now pleaded for a meeting with him to divulge the names of the masterminds behind the plot.

“After that misunderstanding with the premier, we were waiting to talk to him. But suddenly, we were advised to quickly go to the police station and open an assault case. We were taken to the police station in a car and we opened a case. We were also told that our lives were in danger and those people took us to a hiding place and claimed that the premier will kidnap us.

“We did not understand what was going on because we love our premier and we had nothing against him. He was portrayed as a mafia who is out to get us. On the day of the incident, we were invited to a hall to support one of the candidates who were contesting for branch leadership.”

They were duped into believing that their lives were in danger as a result of the incident.
“While we were in the hall we were told to go on stage as a group and that is where the chaos erupted. The premier intervened to try and calm the situation down,” Moletsane explained.

The two have now realised that the senior ANC leaders who offered them bribes were sworn enemies of Magashule who wanted to use the incident to embarrass him.

“We are saddened about how we were used by people who were pursuing their own personal and political agendas. We now realise that people who used us are openly fighting and contesting comrade Ace in the province.”

They were promised money and lucrative jobs, but to no avail. All the promises made to them have not been fulfilled and they are still unemployed and are now haunted by what they did.

They made it clear that no one pressured them to spill the beans to The Weekly about the plot.
Their new version of the incident vindicates Magashule’s side of the story. He told Sunday Sun newspaper then: “I was just separating these two guys because they were about to start a fight.”

But two young men had claimed that they were pushed and choked by the premier because they did not want to vote for his preferred candidate to become a local councilor.

The secretary general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, said this incident was “exaggerated” and described Magashule as a “hands-on-chairman”.

While confirming the incident, Mantashe said the events that unfolded at the meeting were blown out of proportion.

Moletsane claimed that during the meeting the premier suggested a candidate which most of the local people did not support. They claimed that they supported Letebele Nduna to be a new councilor, and not his contender Kgotso Segamme.
“I was one of the people who were going to the stage to vote and supporters of Segamme were blocking our way to the stage. When we asked to pass, we were told that we would not be allowed to vote for our chosen councilor. The next thing I felt someone pulling my shirt and trying to strangle me.

“I looked up and it was the premier himself. He ended up pushing me down to the ground. The premier grabbed my right arm and shook me.Then he ordered his bodyguards to arrest us,” Maleka was quoted as saying.

“I was chairing that meeting but I did not beat them up. I was just separating them because they were about to start a fight. The truth will come out in court. Let the police investigate. The people who were there will be my witnesses. Politics is a dirty game,” said Magashule, who told Sunday Sun then that he was “no Rambo”.

The two now admit that their claims were pure fiction and hogwash. They are remorseful that they were used against a leader who they hold in high regard. They asked the premier for forgiveness and pleaded for a meeting with him to set the record straight.