Ace Magashule

Elias Sekgobelo "Ace" Magashule (born 3 November 1959) is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who served as the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's governing party, between December 2017 and his suspension on 3 May 2021.

In the 1980s, he played a role in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Northern Free State, and participated in organising rent boycotts in Tumahole.

In 1982, while a student at the Fort Hare, he was arrested following a protest against a visit by Ciskei Prime Minister Lennox Sebe, and convicted of public violence.

His official ANC biography claims that he was charged with high treason, but this is contradicted by court records.

He was detained for his UDF activities in 1985.

He went into exile in 1989 and returned in 1991 after the ANC and other anti-apartheid groups were unbanned.

He became the chairperson of the ANC's branch in the Northern Free State.

In the 1994 general election, Magashule was elected to an ANC seat in the Free State Provincial Legislature.

He was also appointed to the Free State Executive Council, where he served as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Economic Affairs between 1994 and 1996.

Later in 1994, he was elected as Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the ANC's newly unified Free State provincial branch, deputising Pat Matosa.

In mid-1996, Free State Premier Terror Lekota announced a reshuffle in which Magashule was moved to a new and less senior government office as MEC for Transport.

Lekota said that his decision was informed by "rumours about misconduct" in the Department of Economic Affairs and by his belief that Magashule was "better-suited" to the on-the-ground work of the transport portfolio.

In November 1996, amid increasing factional hostilities in the Free State ANC, the ANC's national leadership announced that Magashule and Matosa would leave the provincial legislature and be transferred to ANC seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament.

Magashule took up his seat in the National Assembly in August 1997 and served there until the 2004 general election.

During his tenure, he was elected Provincial Chairperson of the ANC's Free State branch at a party elective conference in 1998.

In the 2004 election, Magashule was returned to the Free State Provincial Legislature, ranked first on the ANC's provincial party list.

In the aftermath of the election, newly elected Premier Beatrice Marshoff appointed him as MEC for Agriculture.

He remained in that portfolio until Marshoff sacked him in April 2005.

Subsequently he served as an ordinary Member of the Provincial Legislature until August 2007, when, in another reshuffle, he returned to the Executive Council as MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture.

During this period, in December 2007, Magashule was directly elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee, after having served as an ex officio member of the committee for a decade in his capacity as a provincial chairperson.

He moved to the Public Safety and Security portfolio in October 2008.

He served as the Premier of the Free State, one of South Africa's nine provinces, from 2009 until 2018, and is known to be influential in the ANC of his home province.

An outspoken ally of former President Jacob Zuma, Magashule has been accused of various corrupt activities.

On 6 May 2009, pursuant to that year's general election, Magashule was indirectly elected to succeed Marshoff as Premier of the Free State.

As Premier, he initiated Operation Hlasela, a campaign to fight poverty in the Free State, and established a bursary fund for tertiary students in the Premier's office.

Also while Premier, Magashule retained his party position as ANC Provincial Chairperson, and he ultimately became the ANC's longest-serving Provincial Chairperson.

During his leadership of the branch, the results of its elective conference were successfully challenged twice in court, once in 2012 and once in 2017, and he has been accused of rigging votes.

During his chairmanship, he was part of what was known as the "Premier League," an unofficial lobbying group within the ANC which was influential during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, to whom it was aligned, and which consisted of Magashule, Supra Mahumapelo of the North West, and DD Mabuza of Mpumalanga.

The charges relate to a R255-million contract which the Free State Department of Human Settlements awarded to Blackhead Consulting in 2014, while Magashule was Premier, for the auditing and removal of asbestos from homes in the province.

The National Prosecuting Authority claims that, following receipt of the contract, Magashule's personal assistant asked a Blackhead subsidiary to make various payments to third parties, either at Magashule's instruction or with his knowledge.

These payments included R50,000 for the school fees of the child of an alleged ally of the Gupta family, Refiloe Mokoena, previously of the South African Revenue Service.

In December 2017, during the ANC's 54th National Conference, he was elected to the full-time party position of ANC Secretary General, pursuant to a recount – his opponents had disputed the result and demanded that 68 "missing" ballots be accounted for.

He had run on the slate of the losing presidential candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and was backed by the Premier League.

He was arrested in November 2020 and awaits trial on charges relating to corruption under a government contract awarded while he was Premier.

He was expelled from the ANC in June 2023 after the party's National Disciplinary Committee had found that he had brought the party into disrepute.

Magashule attended Tumahole Primary School (now Lembede Primary) and Phehellang Secondary School in his hometown of Tumahole, Parys.

He gained his nickname, "Ace," on the school soccer field.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fort Hare University, and after graduating taught at Moqhaka High School in Sebokeng and later at Phehellang, his own former school.

In his youth, Magashule was a member of the Congress of South African Students and the Tumahole Youth Congress.

On 10 November 2020, the Hawks issued a warrant for Magashule's arrest on 21 charges of corruption, theft, fraud and money laundering.