Asbestos case: Court to decide if Magashule’s lawyers can cross-examine 1st State witness

JOHANNESBURG - The Free State High Court is set to decide whether former premier Ace Magashule’s lawyers will be granted permission to cross-examine the first State witness in the trial within a trial in the R255 million corruption saga.

Monday is the start of the second week of a trial within a trial meant to determine if the court has jurisdiction to try Magashule’s ex-PA, Moroadi Cholota, alongside her former boss and more than a dozen other accused.

Controversial businessman Edwin Sodi and Free State government employees stand accused in the main trial for the dodgy tender awarded by the Department of Human Settlements.

The contract was for replacing asbestos roofs in 300,000 township homes, but that never happened.

The trial within a trial may drag a little longer than expected after some of the defence lawyers in the matter petitioned the court to cross-examine the first State witness.

Hawks investigator Benjamin Calitz spent the first week on the stand testifying about the early stages of the investigation when Cholota was still considered a State witness.

Calitz was among a small delegation of South African authorities that interviewed Cholota in the United States (US) in 2021 to find incriminating evidence against Magashule.

Unable to nail Magashule using Cholota, she was later joined as an accused facing fraud and corruption charges.

Magashule’s lawyer has told the court his request to cross-examine Calitz is based on a transcript that detailed the 2021 interview about his client.

Calitz, who fell ill last week, is expected back on the stand.