Moroadi Cholota, the former personal assistant to Ace Magashule, in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 12 August. Picture: X / @AphumeleleMdla2
The state has contended that the case against Moroadi Cholota, the former personal assistant to Ace Magashule, is substantial, providing detailed reasons to support their argument against granting bail.
Cholota made her second appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
She faces fraud, corruption, and money laundering charges linked to the R255 million Free State asbestos tender.
The former personal assistant stands accused of facilitating corrupt financial transactions on behalf of Magashule
During Monday’s proceedings, prosecutor Johan de Nysschen presented the affidavit of Hawks investigating officer Benjamin Calitz, detailing the state’s reasons for opposing Cholota’s release on bail.
In the affidavit, Calitz argued that releasing Cholota on bail would not serve the interests of justice, as she poses a flight risk and is likely to evade trial.
The Hawks investigator also accused Cholota of misleading the court by omitting key information regarding the events leading up to her extradition.
“Ms Cholota had been the subject of an Interpol red notice issued after an application was made in October 2021 and issued on 13 December 2021.
“Ms Cholota, at best, had last left the United States nearly as she was unable to travel internationally due to the existence of the red notice and she would have been arrested upon entering the United States again,” the affidavit reads.
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Calitz explained that Cholota had been studying at Bay Atlantic University in Washington D.C on a bursary awarded by the Free State government in 2019.
According to the investigating officer, a letter was sent to Cholota in August 2022, notifying her that her bursary might be cancelled due to her lack of cooperation with South African law enforcement.
Initially, Cholota had agreed to serve as a state witness, but she reversed this decision following an interview with the authorities on 23 September 2021.
A warrant for her arrest was subsequently issued.
Calitz also mentioned that Cholota had twice failed to submit representations on why her bursary should not be revoked.
“Accordingly on the 6th of October 2022, she was notified that her bursary had been terminated and that no further payments would be made save for a flight ticket for Ms Cholota’s return to South Africa to be covered in the event she wished to return. Ms Cholota did not return.”
He noted that in January 2023, Cholota’s former legal representative, Victor Nkhwashu, informed the state that she intended to return to South Africa voluntarily.
However, by May 2023, Nkhwashu reported that he had not received any communication from Cholota or her family regarding her return.
Calitz’s affidavit further revealed that Cholota was initially arrested in the US after her study visa expired, but was later released.
The US government approved South Africa’s request for her extradition, with the process beginning in April 2024.
However, the process was delayed because authorities were unable to determine Cholota’s whereabouts in the US.
She was eventually arrested in Baltimore on 12 April 2024.
After Cholota agreed to her detention in the US, she challenged South Africa’s extradition request in the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) on 9 May 2024.
On 7 June 2024, Maryland District Court Magistrate Judge Erin Aslan ruled that Cholota could be extradited to South Africa, finding that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had presented “sufficient” evidence to support its fraud and corruption case.
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Calitz noted that Cholota’s appeal against the US court’s ruling was unsuccessful.
While her ConCourt application was dismissed on 26 July 2024, the US authorised her extradition just days later, on 31 July.
The Hawks officer argued that Cholota’s nearly four-month detention, as detailed in her affidavit presented in court on Monday, was a situation of “her own making”.
He refuted Cholota’s claims that South African authorities employed “apartheid-era tactics” and violated her constitutional rights.
Calitz pointed out that although Cholota was extradited using emergency travel documents, nothing prevented her from applying for a new passport or requesting a reissue of the passport she left behind in the US, which remains valid until 2029.
The investigating officer questioned how Cholota managed to fund her continued living and studies in the US after her bursary was cancelled.
READ MORE: ACT claims Magashule’s former PA was assaulted to incriminate him in Free State asbestos case
He also cast doubt on her claim that she could only afford a low bail amount.
“Logic questions should further be asked about who is funding legal representation both in these proceedings and those dismissed proceedings in the Constitutional Court, especially because she can only afford bail of R2 500.”
Cholota, through her lawyer Advocate Loyiso Makapela, told the court on Monday that she was currently unemployed.
Meanwhile, Calitz argued that there was a “strong case” against Cholota.
“Ms Cholota’s own emails and records reflect much of the evidence the state has against her. I have no knowledge of other entities’ investigations and none of them were leading towards criminal investigation in any event my investigation has found sufficient evidence to sustain the charges.”
He added that Cholota had previously evaded authorities in the US and argued that she would likely do the same if released on bail.
“Ms Cholota has fought her extradition at every step and by every means, she has no desire to stand trial and prove her innocence as she says.”
Magistrate Estelle De Langa has postponed the bail proceedings to Thursday, 15 August, granting the defence additional time to submit its written response to the state’s submissions.
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