A criminal case instituted against ANC secretary general and former Free State premier Ace Magashule for failing to report a suspected murder is still being investigated, Netwerk24 has reported.
Sam Mashinini, the Free State legislature member for the police, roads and transport department, revealed this in response to a written enquiry by the DA's Roy Jankielsohn, who is the leader of the opposition in the provincial house.
Jankielsohn laid the criminal complaint at Parys police station in July 2018 under a section of the Inquest Act for comments Magashule made at a funeral earlier that year, News24 reported.
"Magashule alleged that the former head of department, Mr Sandile Msibi, died as a result of poisoning," Jankielsohn said in a statement.
"Failure to report a suspicious death to the police is a criminal offence. If Mr Msibi is found to indeed have been the victim of fatal poisoning, Magashule would be guilty of obstructing the course of justice by failure to report his suspicions with his supporting evidence to the police," Jankielsohn charged.
Treatment in Russia
According to City Press, Magashule shocked mourners with the revelations at the funeral of Msibi, former Free State head of the police, roads and transport department, in Parys in January last year.
He said former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo accompanied him when they sought former president Jacob Zuma's help. Msibi died a few days later. He was reportedly buried the day after he was meant to have been flown out of the country.
Sandile Msibi. (File.)
"We said president [Zuma], we have a friend; that this man has been poisoned. Can we please take him to Russia? There are others who have gone to Russia and come back alive," Magashule reportedly told mourners.
READ: Ace's bizarre poison claims
He was seemingly referring to Deputy President David Mabuza, who claimed to have survived being poisoned in 2015.
Mabuza subsequently hitched a lift on the controversial Gupta family's private jet, from Moscow to Johannesburg, after receiving treatment.
According to Mashinini, the investigation into Msibi's cause of death is reportedly still ongoing.
Body not yet exhumed
Netwerk24 reported that Mashinini said in response to Jankielsohn that Msibi's remains had not yet been exhumed and that it was not possible to say how long the post-mortem would take.
Msibi – who allegedly took bribes and plundered the provincial police, roads and transport department he headed – left a handsome fortune when he died in December, according to City Press.
Msibi was a close ally of Magashule and collected property for which he paid almost R25m.
According to the Inquest Act, a person who fails to report knowledge of a murder under certain provisions can be found guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R1 000.
ALSO READ: Ace Magashule ally's property bonanza
KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
- FOLLOW News24 on Twitter