Judgment reserved in Magashule's application to drop charges against him

Judgment has been reserved in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on suspended African National Congress Secretary-General Ace Magashule and three of his co-accused’s applications to have the charges of fraud and corruption against them withdrawn.
The charges relate to the controversial multi-million rand contract to remove asbestos roofs in the Free State when he was still premier.
Earlier, the state argued that Magashule has a case to answer.  Senior Counsel for the state Advocate Nazeer Cassim argued that Magashule directly or indirectly received money from people who were awarded the contract in 2014.
Advocate Cassim told the court that state money was involved.
He says Magashule should be accountable as he was the premier at the time. The state contends that Magashule and his lawyers failed to go through the docket properly.
Cassim says that is why they were under the impression that there is no prima facie case to answer.
“These monies are all coming from the people who got irregular contracts. This state money what did he do to deserve that money? Somebody must answer. “
Tuesday’s court proceedings: