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JOHANNESBURG. — With suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule expected back in court today, he insists the National Prosecution Authority has no case against him.

Magashule is expected to appear at the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein for a pre-trial hearing today.

He will be appearing in the alleged corruption case involving the R255 million asbestos tender issued while he served as the premier of the Free State.

He is charged along with others, including businessman Edwin Sodi.

The case has dragged on for months since Magashule’s initial appearance in court in 2020.

The delays have given Magashule and his supporters ammunition to claim that the State was deliberately delaying matters to keep him out of politics.

The asbestos corruption charges led to his suspension from the ANC.

Magashule said yesterday that he was ready for trial.

He said he was still awaiting the outcome of his two challenges against the case. Magashule last year filed papers at the Free State High Court sitting in Bloemfontein requesting that the State provide a list of its witnesses.

He also challenged other aspects of his charges.

“I am ready for the court. We have been asking the NPA (about) the prosecution. Remember, by law, we are entitled to the information. I am charged with what? Are there witnesses? Who are the witnesses?” Magashule said in an interview with eNCA yesterday.

The former Free State premier had taken issue with his former assistant, Moroadi Cholota, no longer being a witness despite the NPA saying she was willing to co-operate.

He said: “The last time they said Cholota is a witness, and I said that’s fine. It’s good Cholota has worked with me. Maybe she knows something I do not know. And they lied. It was a lie. They are wasting time because they have no information.”

Magashule said his testimony at his trial would prove the case against him was political.

“This is a political trial. And we will prove with time that this is a political trial. That is why I want to be in the box so that South Africans can know the truth. I have been out there for many years, and in my last years, I am suddenly accused. This is genuinely a political trial. They even prepared statements from some people to try and implicate me,” Magashule said. — News24.