Adv. Loyiso Makapela, who’s leading the legal team of the former assistant to ex Free State premier Ace Magashule, told the High Court in Bloemfontein that Cholota was treated “like a criminal” because she declined to implicate Magashule in the R255m asbestos roof removal corruption case. The court, on Tuesday (3/2), raised in Cholota’s special plea to be removed as an accused from the case. 

The matter was referred back to the High Court by the Constitutional Court, which found that there were issues raised in Cholota’s special plea that the High Court had previously failed to address.

Adv. Loyiso Makapela, who’s leading the legal team of the former assistant of ex Free State premier Ace Magashule, Moroadi Cholota. Photo screenshot

Cholota, who is regarded as a key link between some of the accused in the matter, has claimed she was tortured by South African investigators while in the United States (US). Makapela argued interviews conducted with Cholota in the US were not carried out in accordance with proper procedure.

She also criticised the authorities for withdrawing Cholota’s bursary, saying this demonstrated the unfair treatment she had been subjected to before and during her extradition from the US.

Cholota had previously told the court that during one interrogation, she was the only woman in a room filled with several men, an experience she believes was deliberately intended to intimidate her.

“We have a clear concerted effort to infringe on Miss Cholota’s rights. She had done nothing; there was nothing that we say she had done to deserve her bursary being taken awa,y but more than anything she had done nothing to deserve a state prosecutor directing the US to arrest her, knowing full well she’ll be detained by this agency that is currently killing US citizens the gravity of it my lord cannot be overstated.

“The gravity of these actions cannot be simply overstated; they were putting her life in danger intentionally, all for the purpose of getting back at her for not incriminating whom they wanted her to incriminate.” Cholota previously stated before the court that while staying at the Sheraton Hotel in the US, she was approached by two police investigators who questioned her.

“During that interrogation, she said the investigators appeared to be almost pushing her towards giving more information and opinions on matters unrelated to the information in the affidavit she had submitted to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture.

She was expected to serve as a state witness against her former employer, Magashule, who is facing charges related to asbestos roofing. Cholota had also stated she was escorted by FBI agents to the South African embassy in Washington DC. 

She claimed once there, she was again denied access to someone with a legal background to assist her during questioning and was instead told “not to do what she did yesterday”. OFM News previously reported on Wednesday, 3 November 2021, state prosecutor Johan de Nysschen informed Judge President Cagney Musi that Cholota, who had been identified as a state witness in the failed R255m housing project, was not cooperating with state investigators.

De Nysschen told the court Cholota had left the prosecution with no alternative and that she was now a suspect, soon to be charged as an accused in the matter.

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OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh