The son of ANC secretary general and former Free State premier Ace Magashule, Tshepiso, has been forcefully removed from one of the houses belonging to the controversial Gupta family in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, according to a report.
Mail & Guardian reported on Friday that business rescue practitioners selling off the family's properties forcefully removed 36-year-old Tshepiso. This happened after months of resistance, the publication reported.
"Following his eviction, Tshepiso is alleged by neighbours to have also left behind his bull terrier, which neighbours had to feed as it was starving," the publication further reported.
According to Mail & Guardian, one of the business rescue practitioners dealing with the Gupta assets, Bouwer van Niekerk, said one of the biggest problems they faced was the eviction of occupants in Gupta houses, one of them being Tshepiso.
Tshepiso worked for a Gupta company. He and his wife lived in a house about a kilometre away from the Gupta mansion in Saxonwold, News24 previously reported.
Gupta properties, assets being sold
EWN previously reported that Magashule told then-Free State Economic Development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana that he would use his son, Tshepiso, to deal with the controversial Gupta family, as he couldn't because he was a politician.
Dukwana revealed this during his testimony at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.
Several Gupta companies are under business rescue, including Optimum Coal Mine, Koornfontein, Tegeta Exploration and Resources, Islandsite Investments 180, Confident Concepts, Shiva Uranium, and Oakbay Investments. As a result, the family's properties and assets are being sold to raise money to pay off the debt.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury announced sanctions against the controversial Gupta family and associate Salim Essa, it said in a statement last week.
"The Guptas and Essa have used their influence with prominent politicians and parties to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains," said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets," she added.
- Compiled by Jeanette Chabalala
