Please take Myburgh to court so we can ‘expose’ your corruption, DA tells Magashule

The Democratic Alliance’s Dr Roy Jankielsohn has reacted to ANC secretary general Ace Magashule’s claim that he was in the process of taking legal action against investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh and others by saying he would “look forward to this”, because it would give him an opportunity to “expose” Magashule’s wrongdoings.

Myburgh’s new book Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s web of capture places the ANC secretary general at the centre of state capture and details his alleged corruption and gangsterism.

On eNCA on Thursday, Magashule told journalist Samkele Maseko that in his view, his hands were entirely clean.

He said he was “a credible leader” who was “not corrupt”, and made the bold claim that he had “never done anything that is unlawful, illegal, wrong or unethical”.

However, Jankielsohn – who was the DA’s Free State leader during Magashule’s term as premier of the province – said if he was given the chance to testify in court, he would paint a different picture.

READ MORE: I am a ‘credible leader’, I am ‘not corrupt’ – Ace Magashule

If he’s called to court, Jankielsohn said he would outline Magashule’s “failure to investigate and his complicity in the many allegations of unlawful, illegal, wrong, and unethical activities of the provincial government that he was head of as premier that were brought to his attention in the legislature”.

Official parliamentary records and other documents will “expose” how Magashule “misled the legislature and used insults and personal attacks on members of the opposition who exposed these activities to divert attention away from all the malfeasance that was laid before him,” Jankielsohn alleges.

“Magashule must not confuse the unwillingness to investigate allegations of corruption due to the capture of law enforcement agencies in the Free State by an ANC faction, with a presumption of innocence.

“Regarding legal action, Magashule said the country must ‘watch this space’. We look forward to filling that space for him during the court proceedings that he claims to be instituting.

“Magashule has much to answer for and the DA would like to see him in court, not a civil court but a criminal court,” the statement concludes.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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