3 days ago
BREAKING: US extradition of Magashule's ex-PA Moroadi Cholota declared unlawful
The Free High Court cannot try Cholota on charges of corruption.
Moroadi Cholota (former PA to Free State Premier Ace Magashule) at the Bloemfontein High Court on 15 April 2025. Picture: Gallo Images/Mlungisi Louw
The Free High Court in Bloemfontein has ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to try Moroadi Cholota, former personal assistant to ex-Free State premier Ace Magashule, for corruption.
Judge Philip Loubser, who is presiding over the R255 million asbestos tender corruption case, handed down his judgment on Tuesday.
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This followed two weeks of testimony from state witnesses Benjamin Calitz and Nicholas 'Nico' Jacobus Gerber, both officers with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, in a trial-within-a-trial relating to Cholota's extradition from the United States (US).
The two had travelled to the US in 2021 to interview Cholota, who was initially a state witness, regarding emails that allegedly implicated her in the asbestos tender saga.
While Cholota was initially charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering, the last two charges were withdrawn by the state.
Free States asbestos trial: Moroadi Cholota's special plea judgment
During Tuesday's proceedings, Lousber noted that Cholota had already pleaded guilty to the fraud charges before they were withdrawn.
'Although it remains a mystery to this court why the counts in question were put to the accused number 17 at all in view of the terms of the extradition order, it will not be necessary for the prosecution to stop the prosecution in relation to those charges,' he said.
The judge said Cholota was not entitled to demand that she be acquitted or convicted on the withdrawn charges because she had pleaded guilty to them.
He noted the accused's argument that her extradition was unlawful because the prosecutors and investigators submitted false claims to the US in their application to haul her back to South Africa.
Cholota had claimed that she was charged for refusing to implicate Magashule.
READ MORE: 'What if she went on holiday': Hawks investigator grilled on 'surprise' US trip for Magashule's ex-PA
Lousber said the state did not deny that Calitz told Cholota that her lack of cooperation could result in her being charged.
'What appears pertainently clear is that it is undeniable that the state presented false and incorrect information to United States authorities.
'Two South African courts have already made this finding, and the US authorities relied on this information in good faith and acted on the extradition on an unknowingly unlawful basis.'
He, therefore, ruled that the court cannot try Cholota and granted her the special plea.
'The unlawfulness of the extradition renders the jurisdiction of the South African criminal court void.'
