BOOI: IT'S A WITCH HUNT

FORMER Human Settlements Mayco Member Malusi Booi says he is the victim of a political witch hunt. 

Booi was arrested last year, on charges related to alleged tender collusion linked to construction companies owned by suspected underworld figures such as alleged 28s dik ding Ralph Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson. 

Now Booi has implicated two senior City officials in what he described as a witch hunt leading to his arrest over tender collusion charges, which the National Prosecuting Authority subsequently provisionally withdrew last Friday.  

In an interview with the Cape Times, Booi spoke of what he believed led to his arrest. 

He says: “I do think it was (a political witch hunt), it has been confirmed on a number of platforms because in the first place there was no R1 billion tender fraud. 

“Even if something happened at the supply chain, I don’t have any control on who gets to be appointed or not being appointed. 

“I’ve got no role in appointing contractors. I was viewed as someone who awarded a contract to a contractor, the people who did that knew very well that it does not exist because that is purely administrative, it is done by City officials. 

“It is not done by politicians, our role is purely oversight. We meet contractors that had already been appointed on site. 

“The company in question was never appointed by the City, they were appointed by the provincial government in 2014. 

“I was not even working for the City at the time, so there was no way I could have championed the appointment. I joined in 2016, appointed as sub council chairperson for subcouncil 21. 

“I only joined human settlements in December 2018. It was four years later that the company was appointed. I was taken aback when I was accused of facilitating this appointment.”

Upon his own investigations, Booi said he learned that the tenders in question were even cancelled before they were awarded.

He said he knew who was behind the orchestrated move against him. 

Booi added: “A lot of things were not going right under his watch, a lot of service delivery issues.”