Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has clamped down on construction companies accused of colluding with Nicole Johnson, the wife of an alleged gang boss, amid ongoing investigations into extortion linked to housing projects.
In an exclusive interview with the Cape Argus, City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo revealed how the municipality hired a handwriting expert to assess the tender applications received amid suspicions that companies were colluding with Johnson’s construction company when making bids.
Glomix CC, owned by Johnson, was dealt a major blow last year when Mbandazayo blacklisted 12 companies owned or associated with Johnson and her husband, Ralph Stanfield, alleged to be a 28s gang boss.
The company was later also blacklisted by the National Treasury following Mbandazayo’s investigation.
Mbandazayo said that after the murder of City staffer Wendy Kloppers at a housing site in Delft, he uncovered a web of links between alleged underworld figures, contractors and City staff.
While undertaking the mammoth investigation he came across three tender applications by Glomix CC and two others for the same housing project, he said.
But he became suspicious when he discovered the same hand writing on all three applications, despite each company listing different individuals as their directors.
As part of the investigation, a hand writing expert was brought in to ascertain if the paperwork was indeed completed by the same person, showing that there was collusion with Johnson to ensure that the underworld would have control over the housing site regardless of who won the tender.
In the report given to the Cape Argus, the expert outlined various similarities between the three applications.
The findings show that the person who completed all three tender applications used the exact same size and style of writing, the exact linear spaces between words and the same use of grammar.
Shockingly, it was found that all three applications had the signature of the same police officer at Bishop Lavis police station, which had certified the ID documents of all the directors.
In one of the applications it was also found that one of the directors’ signatures was also forged or signed fraudulently when compared to the signature on her ID card.
In documentation provided to the Cape Argus, it shows that Mbandazayo wrote to each of the directors and asked them to explain how this was possible.
“They basically claimed that this was immaterial findings but it is clearly tender collusion and for that reason they were blacklisted along with Glomix CC.
“The findings of this investigation were shared with the Commercial Crimes Unit, the National Treasury and the Competition Commission but each entity will have to decide for themselves what they want to do with the information.
“As a City manager I was following my legal duties to the National Treasury and this decision will see them being barred from doing business with government entities for the next five years.”
In the last financial year the municipality lost more than R600 million as developments across the directorates were stalled due to extortion, he said.
Mbandazayo said the investigations into the links between officials in the human settlements department have revealed a web of connections between underworld figures and City staff.
“They have tentacles everywhere and we are determined to investigate and cut them all off for the sake of good governance.
“While investigations into the role played by City staff continues along with disciplinary steps, it is important for Capetonians to understand that this is a mammoth undertaking and we are unearthing new information all the time.
“But it is a painstaking process and we must be thorough. We cannot allow gangsters to use City tenders to wash their money, because this is what they are doing and it’s not just the human settlements department – they even bid on tenders to cut grass.”
Last month the police arrested Warren-Lee Dennis for the murder of Kloppers.
During his appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court it was revealed that the alleged hitman of the Firm gang was set to stand trial alongside Johnson and Stanfield for an ever-growing charge sheet linking them to the attempts to murder a State witness as well as the son of alleged Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome “Donkie” Booysen.