The business dealings of Nicole Johnson have been dealt yet another blow.
This after the City of Cape Town roped in a handwriting expert who it says proved collusion, leading to the blacklisting of two construction companies.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, City Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo says the companies were caught out when he became suspicious of the handwriting on tender applications to build huisies on the Cape Flats.
He says the municipality hired a handwriting expert to assess the tender applications received amid suspicions that the companies were colluding with Johnson’s construction company Glomix CC.
Last year, Mbandazayo blacklisted 12 companies owned or associated with Johnson and her husband, alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, which included Glomix CC.
An investigation led by the City Manager also saw Glomix CC being blacklisted by the National Treasury.
The investigation was started after the murder of City staffer Wendy Kloppers at a housing site in Delft, and Mbandazayo says he uncovered a web of links between alleged underworld figures, contractors and City staff.
He explains he came across three tender applications, by Glomix CC and two other companies, for the same housing project but became suspicious when he discovered the same handwriting on all three applications despite each company listing different individuals as their directors.
A handwriting expert was brought in to ascertain if the paperwork was indeed completed by the same person, which would prove 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 Daily Voice, the expert outlined various similarities between the three applications, including the exact same size and style of writing, the exact linear spaces between words and the same use of grammar.
Shockingly, all three applications had the signature of the same cop at Bishop Lavis Police Station, who had certified the identity documents of all the directors.
Mbandazayo wrote to each of the directors and asked them to explain how this was possible.
He tells the Daily Voice: “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.”
Mbandazayo explains that in the last financial year, the municipality had lost over R600 million as developments across the directorates were stalled due to extortion.
He says investigations into officials in the Human Settlements department have revealed a web of connections between underworld figures and City staff.
Mbandazayo shares: “They have tentacles everywhere and we are determined to investigate and cut them all off for the sake of good governance.
“We cannot allow gangsters to use City tenders to come and wash their [dirty] 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 cops arrested an alleged hitman for The Firm gang, Warren-Lee Dennis, for Kloppers’ murder.
monique.duval@inl.co.za