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The Hawks are hot on the heels of higher government officials accused of corruption scandals, describing the potential number of upcoming arrests as “too much,” while one political analyst believes top ANC member Ace Magashule will soon. could be involved.
The Hawks had arrested two top officials Thursday on corruption charges. The first was the arrest of former ANC MP and parliamentary committee chairman Vincent Smith, who turned himself in to the Alberton police, where he was charged with corruption and fraud for his dealings with Bosasa.
READ ALSO: Government official turns himself in to Hawks for FS asbestos corruption
Shortly after, in KwaZulu Natal, a seventh suspect also turned himself in for his involvement in the rand 255 million rand Free State irregular asbestos audit project, which has been in the crosshairs of the State Capture Investigation Commission in The last weeks. Several other officials were arrested in connection with this case on Wednesday and all will appear in court on Friday.
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi says these arrests, however, are just the beginning and they hope to target many more government officials.
He said the arrests were not sparked by testimony before the state arrest commission, but had been under investigation for a long time. However, the commission had previously requested that the arrests be suspended until matters in the investigation are heard, Mulaudzi said.
READ ALSO: Senior ANC politician who surrenders to the police is a ‘detour’, says Malema
“The asbestos saga, we started it in February of this year. Including Vincent Smith [case] which we started investigating from 2018. These arrests were unavoidable. We knew that the commission would take care of these matters and we informed them that we are ready for arrest, but they asked us to wait because they want to address it first before the commission.
“We agreed to give them space to do their work and once they are done, we will jump in.
“There should be too many arrests coming … Our arrests do not stem from the events of the commission,” he said.
The seven suspects linked to the Free State asbestos saga include the former mayor of the Manguang metropolitan municipality, Olly Mlamleli. His alleged arrest came after that of businessman Edwin Sodi, who was involved in the asbestos looting scandal, former head of the human settlements department in the Free State, Nthimose Mokhesi, and Thabane Zulu, former director general of the national human settlements department. .
But according to political analyst Somadoda Fikeni, politicians like Ace Magashule and Nomvula Mokonyane should also be concerned, as law enforcement appeared to be “raising the bar. [political] profiles ”.
He said that while the scandals in the Free State were unraveling, they could in turn directly or indirectly implicate the ANC’s secretary general, Magashule.
“Ace Magashule will experience challenges. There is no way that with the Vrede dairy farm, and so many things happening in the Free State, he is not affected. We can discuss whether he will be involved directly or indirectly, but that is going to happen, ”said Fikeni.
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