The National Treasury has blacklisted two construction companies accused of smokkeling with alleged gang wife Nicole Johnson while bidding for municipal tenders.
The axe has fallen on ZSM Developers based in Cape Town as well as the Boon Group based in Gauteng as the Treasury placed them on the list of restricted suppliers for a period of five years, during which they will not be able to bid for any government tenders.
The sanction comes amid a R1 billion tender fraud investigation into links between officials and underworld figures and has led to the arrest of the directors of these two companies, who are set to go on trial alongside alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and former DA Mayco Member Malusi Booi.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice earlier this year, City of Cape Town Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo said the accused were uitgevang when he became suspicious of the handwriting on two applications matching that of an application submitted by Glomix CC, is owned by Johsnon.
A handwriting expert found various similarities in the handwriting on the three applications.
As a result of this investigation, 12 companies owned or associated with Stanfield and Johnson were also blacklisted by the National Treasury.
Abdul Kader Davids, the sole director of ZSM developers, and Mohammed Amod of Boon Group were arrested with Stanfield, Johnson and Booi in the case.
Davids was later shot and killed in Beacon Valley after he was released on R250 000 bail.
Documents show that Johnson’s mother, Barbara signed as a witness on his tender application forms.
In a letter from the National Treasury to Mbandazayo, it said it was satisfied that the municipality’s decision to blacklist the companies in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Supply Chain Management policy had fulfilled all the requirements to motivate the decision.
monique.duval@inl.co.za