Mpho Mokoena, who is the Free State's former Housing HOD, told the state capture commission of inquiry that Magashule and the former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane instructed them to continue with illegal payments related to the 2011 housing project in the Free State.

Zwane was the MEC for Human Settlements at the time.

Mokoena said during a meeting with former Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, Zwane agreed to stop the advance payments after a warning by Treasury. 

He later changed his mind.

"But when we got home, he came back to me and said that we are continuing we are not going to stop and the housing project would continue until the end of the financial year," said Mokoena.

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo asked why Zwane changed his mind.

"He said we still needed to ensure we spend our budget until the end of the financial year. He was focusing on spending instead of the commitment we made to the minister.”

Other witnesses told the commission the Free State government spent R631 million on the project without receiving anything in exchange.

Mokoena also told the commission that Zwane instructed him to ensure that a company owned by Rochelle Else is awarded contracts related to the project.

He said that instruction came from Magashule.

"He told me that we must ensure that this contractor gets contracts to build houses in Kroonstad because that is the instruction from the premier. When the project started running and the time came for claims to be expedited, he would instruct us to pay the claims because the premier had said so.”

Jacaranda FM