The leader of the party in the province, Patricia Kopane, said she believes that the ANC in the province never could have anticipated this provocative move. She says the statue is a symbol of corruption in the party, as well as state capture, which she alleges started in the Free State during former premier Ace Magashule’s tenure between 2009 and 2018.

"The executive of the Free State, being the former Premier and the current Premier, were supposed to stand up and stop corruption, but because they were the beneficiaries of corruption, they did nothing. That's why we had the Guptas that were given alot of money at the expense of the people. Now we're appealing to South Africans to stop voting for the ANC because they will never do anything else other than serving their own interests," Kopane said. 

While Kopane would not say whether her party had the statue made for this occasion or received it from someone, she said what was important was the statue's symbolism of the Guptas and their relationship with the ANC in the Free State's leadership. This move is considered the party’s last form of electioneering as the party vies to win votes this week, as South Africans cast their special votes today and tomorrow, while on Wednesday the rest of the country will vote at the general elections. 

Meanwhile, in a written response, Makhele said any enquiry OFM News has on the statue should be sent to the Democratic Alliance as they as the provincial government would only be speaking on issues related to its “people” as well as service delivery and not on the political campaigns of its opposition party.  

In an announcement earlier issued by Ntombela’s office, OFM News has learnt that the Free State Premier will at lunch today launch a new wi-fi express project between the provincial government and mobile network provider, Cell C. This just some of the matters related to service delivery that the province will be focused on.

OFM News