City

Since the day Director Malatji was instructed to terminate ad hoc security services, those services continued until June, costing the City more than R50,000,000.

“since the day you were instructed to terminate these ad hoc services, they continued until June and the cost to the City was more than R 50000000”

Ad hoc security services, not compliant with Standard Operating Procedures, cost the City or TMPD approximately 96 million Rand over six months.

“just to leave it at that, would have cost the City, or in particular the TMPD, 96 million”

Invoices for services rendered were received with no purchase orders generated, contrary to City policy.

“No POs were generated”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini admits that invoices from July 2024 were sitting unpaid for over six months despite services being certified as rendered.

“invoices sit for a period of longer than six months without being attended to”

There is a policy in the City that invoices need to be processed within 30 days, but this was not followed, leading to invoices overdue more than six months.

“there is a policy in the City that invoices need to be processed within 30 days ... invoices sit for a period of longer than six months without being attended to”

There was a risk of service providers going to court for unpaid invoices as contracts were ending and no extensions secured, risking court orders against the City.

“People were going to court and we were going to pay them on a court order because there will no longer be a contract to pay those invoices”

By the time the City receives service provider invoices, the contract may no longer be operative, but the invoices relate to a period when the contract was operative.

“But by the time the City gets the invoices, that invoice, the contract is no longer operative, but the invoice relates to a period when the contract was operative.”

Invoices were only received by the department in February, despite a delay in forwarding them, leading to questions about accountability for delayed invoice processing.

“if someone is responsible for not following the City's systems and for not forwarding invoices to your department promptly when the invoices are issued by the service provider, why are they not held to account?”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini states the discussion with the CFO was about year-end financial matters to ensure accrual of invoices so no outstanding invoices remain unpaid in the City's financial statements.

“It was around year-end, financial year regarding to ensure that we accrue accordingly the invoices of the previous financial years so that we do not sit without standing invoices which were not accrued accordingly in the financial statements of the City.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini states the termination letter was relevant to ensure recognition that services were terminated and no more invoices should be submitted beyond June for accrual purposes.

“To take note to say the services have been terminated, we need to ensure that there is a MOPA plan in terms of ensuring that there are no outstanding invoices.”

There was no need for Sergeant Nkosi to communicate the compliance information about the bids to anyone else inside the City other than possibly Elshadai and Ngapesheya.

“And there would be no need for Sergeant Nkosi to communicate this information to anyone else other than possibly Elshadai and Ngapesheya ? ... That is correct .”

Criminals sell stolen water drawn illegally from municipal hydrants via water tankers, which operate through a City tender to supply water through water tankers.

“In the City there is a tender of supplying water through water tankers... So, if pump stations are vandalised and sabotage, now the communities need water. Water tankers must start working.”

Major Phiri confirms he lent money to Aluwani Makhuba, who is a businessman and employee of Ramalepe Security, a service provider for the City.

“A l u w a n i M a k h u w a i s a n e m p l o y e e . H e i s a b u s i n e s s m a n . A l s o , h e i s a n e m p l o y e e o f a s e r v i c e p r o v i d e r w o r k i n g f o r t h e C i t y c a l l e d R a m a l e p e S e c u r i t y .”

The accounting officer is ultimately responsible for the procurement environment in the City and ensuring bid specifications are in place.

“The accounting officer is ultimately responsible for the procurement environment in the City. He is ultimately responsible for ensuring that bid specifications are in place.”

The accounting officer, even if signing off without picking up irregularities, must raise valid errors and take the decision to cancel the bid; the City will then deal with any court challenge from bidders accordingly.

“Even if you pick up an error from the beginning of the process, you have a duty to raise that ... If it is an error that is valid, that might lead to a regularity, you cannot ignore that. We do take a decision to cancel that bid. We then leave that on us on any supplier who says, no, but you should not have cancelled this bid ... If a bidder chooses to take the City to court, we will then deal with it at that stage ... That is the process that we follow at the City from a practical perspective.”

The accounting officer states that he cannot accept that the City Manager's powers derive solely from the SCM policy because the accounting officer is accountable for all aspects of the City.

“I cannot accept that. What I can put to you is that the accounting officer is accountable for all aspects of the City.”

Procurement process does not require consensus between Probitiy and BEC; Probitiy submits a report which is considered by BEC but consensus is not mandated by City supply chain policy.

“It is not required in terms of the City's supply chain management policy ... It is not what I meant.”

Bidders sometimes raise confusion about the need for firearm licenses, which is a mandatory requirement in the bid specification document and failure to meet it leads to disqualification.

“In some instances, yes, some bidders raise that. However, in some instances after the fact, when a bidder has not been awarded and has been disqualified for this reason, it might be an issue for the City.”

The tender document had contradictory provisions where some areas stated armed guards were not required, yet every bidder had to submit firearm licenses as a mandatory requirement, which could lead to litigation and was seen as a problematic contradiction.

“We have seen in the past that this exact same tender was taken to court, irregularities were identified. ... It was a highly litigated tender. ... The contradiction came in the form within those discussions that you now need to be clear. Which of those sites would not require fire arms? ... So the distinction needed to be there.”

The tender was for watchman services to guard all City sites, not specifically for ad hoc security services.

“As far as I am concerned, this is for watchman services. ... The content of this tender was for watchman services and replacing the existing tender that was there. Not specifically for ad hoc. It was to guard all City sites. All City sites.”

Risk assessments to identify sites needing additional security services are done by TMPD and relevant user departments; these assessments are included in the tender to cover all key and essential sites.

“Risk assessments are done by TMPD and the relevant user department, which identifies the need to add an additional site for security - related services. ... All key and essential sites would have been taken into account.”

PSIRA has strict guidelines on how much is to be paid per guard which should have been clearly indicated in the City’s bid specifications to avoid binding bidders to their own prices instead of PSIRA prices.

“PSIRA has got strict guidelines on how much you need to pay per guard... The City’s specification document was silent on this matter... they are aware of how the industry operates, to avoid a situation where we award a bidder then comes award date, he then tells us PSIRA says you need to pay this amount”

The City did not want to go with PSIRA rates to obtain cheaper and more competitive bids but this was a safeguard to clarify pricing expectations to bidders.

“Because in most instances, I would suspect that the reason the City did not have or go with PSIRA rates is that they wanted to get cheaper prices, wanted to get a competitive bid. So that was there to safeguard the City in the instance of that as well”

The City was lucky no bidder took them to court on the absence of PSIRA pricing guideline requirements, and therefore cancellation on this ground is invalid.

“I think the City is very lucky that no bidder took you to court on this ground ... you cannot cancel on this ground. I am putting that to you as a correct position of law. That is not a valid reason to have cancelled this tender”

Mr M N I S I describes his role in overseeing an outstanding payment process, playing oversight to ensure the matter is completed properly but not being able to force payment.

“Presumably for me to have oversight on the payment process... I need to play oversight to ensure the payment is included in line with the necessary payment file uploading process... I read this as a form of me playing oversight in the payment process... I have got a cash flow management function... I can even confirm the payment was done by the 14th of March... playing oversight so that this does not fall through the cracks.”

Sergeant Nkosi overheard a telephone conversation between Mr. Mnisi and Mr. Calvin Mahlangu where complaints were made about the City owing considerable outstanding payments and legal action being contemplated if unresolved.

“Sergeant Nkosi overheard a telephone conversation between me and Mr Calvin Mahlangu, during which he complained about the City owing his company a significant amount in outstanding payments. He indicated that legal action against the City was being contemplated, should the matter remain unresolved.”

The witness admitted that his role was limited to overseeing and assisting in payments but did not independently verify that internal processes and documents were in order for authorizing payments.

“that you use, without any indication that you satisfied yourself, that you are overseeing and authorizing, and I am using authorizing loosely. As an overseer, you are, you are assisting in payments to be made where all the necessary documents that are required and that contain the necessary information have, in fact, been submitted to the different people in the City, in the TMPD, including in your Finance, that must receive all of that information. I do not see that in these texts. I do not know if that, I think I spoke long. I think the summary of what I am saying is, it does not seem from these texts that you satisfied yourself independently, that your internal processes and documents are all in order.”

Mr M N Isi is suspended from the City and unable to access the system or communicate with individuals.

“A t p r e s e n t , I a m s u s p e n d e d f r o m t h e C i t y”

The urgency to communicate directly with Deputy Chief Dhlamini was due to prior escalations and messages received that needed resolution before financial year-end to avoid disputes impacting City's books and the Auditor-General's report.

“Your recall earlier on the escalations and the phone calls and the messages that were received, this was urgent for me because this needed to be resolved. I did not want a situation of this nature to reoccur. We are sitting at a stage where we are sitting almost end of the month... Accou... must be dealt with accordingly.”

The environment the City is working in is not perfect; internal control issues persist complicating the resolution of invoice disputes on a timely basis.

“The environment that we are working in is not the perfect environment. In the perfect environment, all of these issues must be dealt with on a monthly basis... We are still struggling... At present, we still have issues where we are experiencing concerns of this nature... We are addressing these internal controls.”

The issue of year-end disputes is not unique to this contract but affects all other contracts of the City, mainly TMPD Security Services where the biggest budget and expenditure occurs with many stakeholders and sites.

“That is an issue that you face not just in relation to this contract, but in relation to all other contracts of the City... It is predominantly within TMPD Security Services... Watchman Services 1 is where the biggest budget and expenditure is... hence, this is a particular case.”

If Gubis provided services after receiving a letter from the City stating services may not be provided from 1 July, then Gubis knew they were contravening the City's instruction.

“If Gubis provided services with effect in August 2025 or on the 5th of July 2025, they knew they were doing something that the City had expressly informed them that they may not do.”

The City would have no obligation to honour any invoice for services provided by Gubis after the termination date.

“The City would be under no obligation to honour any invoice furnished for those services.”

In involving Sergeant Nkosi in the Gubi-related matters, Mr Mnisi put Sergeant Nkosi in a position where he gained access to documents exchanged between the City and the bidder Gubi, including sensitive pricing invoices.

“In the process of involving Sergeant Nkosi in Gubi-related matters, you put Sergeant Nkosi in a position where he gained access to documents exchanged between the City and one of the competing bidders in TMPD1, namely Gubi, including an invoice that showed the pricing used by Gubi in its dealings with the City.”

During the City bid process, Mr Mnisi gave Sergeant Nkosi access to documents between the City and a competing bidder, including an invoice showing pricing used by that bidder.

“you had given Sergeant Nkosi access to documents between the City and one of the competing bidders in TMPD 1, including an invoice that showed the pricing used by that bidder in respect of the City”

Sergeant Nkosi obtained access to documents between the City and competing bidders including an invoice showing pricing used by a competing bidder.

“Through involving Sergeant Nkosi, you put him in a position where he got access to documents between the City and one of the competing bidders, including an invoice that shows the pricing used by that competing bidder in relation to the City.”

Mr Mnisi was aware that Sergeant Nkosi had access through the City to pricing of a competitor in relation to the City, but disclosed this to no attorney.

“You were aware that Sergeant Nkosi had got access through the City to the pricing of a competitor in relation to the City. ... Yes, but nine months down the line, I was aware of that. ... You disclosed none of this to any attorney who was expressing a view on the probity of the process. That is common cause.”

Process and internal controls must always be followed to ensure compliance in payment matters, which cannot be broken down in the procedures that the city has set.

“It means the process must always be followed to the T. Compliance matters are essential. It cannot be a breakdown in terms of any procedures that the city has set. So, the centre must hold. Internal controls must be followed. Processes and procedures and internal controls must be adhered to.”

The protocol must be observed and the city has established systems and controls to handle payment matters that cannot be bypassed by one individual.

“The protocol must be observed. The city has established systems and controls to deal with this matter. It cannot be dealt with by one person individually or another without demonstrating that I have been through this matter.”

The unpaid invoice amount of R397,000 is being claimed by the entity after having received payments for other invoices.

“They are claiming the city still owes them R397000. Hence, they are making follow-up after they had received the other payments for the other invoices. This one remained outstanding.”

Mr Mnisi states that Nico Mathobela is not an employee of the City.

“he is not an employee of the City, as far as I am concerned”

The City aimed to move its supply chain management to a completely digital platform to reduce barriers to entry and increase competitiveness in bidding processes.

“This is part and parcel of the City's goals to completely move to a digital platform from a supply chain management perspective, moving away from physical tender documents and papers which could be easily manipulated.”

The City was piloting official competitive bidding processes for three groups: health, communication, marketing and events, economic development and spatial planning, with a plan for full electronic rollout by July including big business units.

“We were already piloting the official competitive bidding processes for three groups within the City, being health, communication, marketing and events, as well as economic development and spatial planning, with the plan to ensure that from the 1st of July, the entire city with the big business units also go online.”

Many stakeholders and suppliers found it difficult to understand the change from paper-based to digital environment in competitive bidding, which was targeted as a corruption combating measure.

“Many of them found it difficult to understand the move from the City from a paper-based environment to a digitalised environment. This is something I championed from the beginning of my appointment at the City, purely as a means of combating corrupt and elucidated activities.”

The tender relates to services for monitoring and prevention of illegal and building occupation and demolition of unlawfully erected structures within the City, listed as item 5 in the approved advert communications.

“The tender relates to the provision for services for monitoring prevention of illegal and building occupation as well as demolition of unlawfully erected structures within the City. The tender was listed here under number 5 with the approved advert”

The city incurred irregular expenditure and illicit activities which necessitated internal control mechanisms to reduce such occurrences.

“that the city is not subject to litigation from errors which could have been avoided . This was a necessary internal control mechanism to reduce irregular expenditure , on one , and curb illicit activities , Chair .”

The city was sitting with irregular expenditure almost worth R18 billion, and neither the chief financial officer nor the city manager could afford for this to continue, hence the need for proper planning and assurance exercises.

“The city was sitting with irregular expenditure almost worth R18 billion . The situation now is the chief financial officer as well as the city manager could not afford for this to continue . Hence , the resolution is you must ensure that bids are advertised at least 9 to 12 months before they end because we need to ensure that the proactive forensic assurance exercise is undertaken .”

The Bid Evaluation Committee, comprised of individuals from all departments within the City, conducts an independent checklist of each remaining bidder.

“the BEC , which is comprised of multifaceted individuals from all departments within the City, then conducts an independent checklist of each bidder that is remaining .”

BAC noted that extensions cannot be done by a one-man show and that there is an articulate process and system within the city to ensure extension applications are reconsidered and probed for any deficiencies.

“The point of this, Chair, is for me to prove, to show the community the process of extensions, that extensions cannot be done by a one-man show. There are an articulate process and system that have been designed within the city to ensure that extension applications are reconsidered. Also, extension applications that are reconsidered are not just approved, they are intentionally scrutinised and probed for any deficiencies which result to issues of this nature.”

The Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) incorrectly disqualified 27 bidders and incorrectly qualified 32 bidders that should have been disqualified, casting doubt on the integrity of the tender process.

“B E C i n c o r r e c t l y d i s q u a l i f i e d 2 7 b i d d e r s f o r a d d e n d u m s n o n - c o m p l i a n c e a n d i n c o r r e c t l y q u a l i f i e d 3 2 b i d d e r s t h a t s h o u l d h a v e b e e n d i s q u a l i f i e d”

The external third party concluded the irregularities in the tender process were material enough to render the process irregular and open the City to litigation.

“the e x t e r n a l t h i r d p a r t y c o n c l u d e s t h a t t h e f i n d i n g s a b o v e c a s t d o u b t i n t h e i n t e g r i t y o f t h e t e n d e r p r o c e s s e m b a r k e d o n b y t h e C i t y w h i l s t t h e y a r e m a t e r i a l e n o u g h t o r e n d e r t h e p r o c e s s i r r e g u l a r a n d o p e n 20 t h e C i t y t o l i t i g a t i o n”

This matter was important to ensure City's accounting records accurately reflected the true status of all trade payables, especially notable because of previous audit qualifications and adverse opinions.

“This matter...was of particular importance to me as it was necessary to ensure that the City's accounting records in its entirety accurately reflected the true status quo of all trade payables for the City...the City have received a qualification and at one point an adverse audit opinion, Chairperson.”

The City had no systems in place to validate trade payables, leading to an audit qualification that needed urgent mitigation and internal control strengthening to ensure accurate accounting and prevent repeat audit findings.

“the key issue was trade payables . We could not account for our trade payables . Suppliers were just told and there were no systems in place to validate that”

The purchase order is to recognize expenditure on the system and credit the relevant general ledger or cost centre account. It is generated internally after deployment letter and invoice submission to enable payment authorization within the City.

“the purpose of the purchase order is to now recognise the expenditure on the system , credit the relevant GL . GL , I mean the general ledger or cost centre account ... The deployment letter is a manual letter that is signed by an individual issued outside the system ... The only form which will enable a payment in the form of a document that recognises or authorises a payment is purchase orders . So what happens , Chair , is that the user department uploads the necessary documents , which would include the invoice , that deployment letter , the appointment letters , the SLA ' s of these particular service providers to the system . They then generate those purchase orders in conjunction with the City ' s Supply Chain Management function”

A purchase order is an internal process between two City departments, which creates a transaction recognized for payment and sent to the supplier.

“a purchase order is an internal process which enables payments . The purchase order goes out to the supplier , but from the City ' s perspective , it creates a transaction . The transaction is recognised for payment”

Mr Mnisi's security detail was withdrawn by the City as a decision he accepted without protest or challenge.

“I accepted it. It is a City decision. If they decide to withdraw my security, all I can do is accept it and move on, even if they do not explain to me the reasons why.”

Mr Mnisi did not challenge or confront anyone about the withdrawal of his security detail, nor did he write to anyone about it.

“No, Chair, I accepted it. It is a City decision...”

The Municipal Finance Management Act mandates that bids must be finalised within 90 days, but the City's Supply Chain Management policy allows extensions beyond this period.

“three months is a directive from the Municipal Finance Management Act ... bids must be finalised within 90 days ... we are stating ... the City's own Supply Chain Management policy, that we are allowed to make extensions beyond the 90-day period”

The BEC meeting on 11 April resolved to continue evaluation of tender TMPD 1-24/25 at the next scheduled meeting; no further minutes after 11 April have been found on record with the City.

“the BEC at its meeting held 11th April, resolved they will continue with the evaluation of TMPD1-24/25 on the next scheduled meeting ... Unfortunately they end at 11 April”

Commissioner Mkhwanazi confirms the existence of a memorandum of understanding that authorizes EMPD operational actions, including joint operations with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for national operations and exhumations linked to apartheid era killings.

“We have got a memorandum of understanding...we are not just limited to, and some members are coming into be part of that team... there is a memorandum of agreement between the City and NPA.”

Witness was promoted and not directly giving instructions to the unit; the unit reported to other commanders and the witness was strictly doing crowd management; some people came with grievances about CLU and were not employed by the city but wanted positions or full employment by the city.

“They only came back when the new Chief of Police, Isaac Mapiyeye, and Deputy Chief Mzolo handed over a new team after disbandment of an old unit in 2019. That is when I started giving instructions following the chain of command to the chief superintendent, superintendent inspectors. When it came back, I was now promoted to another level... I was strictly doing crowd management... there were people that came in with grievances that they worked with CLU and they were not employed by the city. Now they want to be given positions or they want to be employed fully by the city.”

CLUs were a group that had an agreement with the former Chief of Police to protect him, and they made promises that excluded the city itself.

“‘Kindly receive the response from our side from the so-called former SLU members. It is a group that had an agreement with the former chief to protect him. They had promises, which does not include the city.’”

The group within the community who joined CLU police officers were not employed by the city and operated operationally, directly reporting to the Chief of Police.

“‘This group that I am talking to in this letter, CLU membership has got community leaders that are CLU members, CLU community liaising officers or unit, they are metro police officers... There was this group that joined them in doing operational work. I am talking about that group that is not employed by the city.’”

The city has recruitment policies that require every citizen to respect and follow, and the group claiming employment was not recruited by the city.

“‘The city is having recruitment policies that every citizen must respect and follow. So, I understand this particular group, you say, was not recruited by the city.’”

The spokesperson for the city, Mr Zwele Dlamini, had to respond to media allegations about the group wanting to be employed by the city.

“‘The spokesperson of the city Mr Zwele Dlamini had to get responses from us and say there are these people and I was trying to clarify that those people were working with those people.’”

The former CLU members referred to are community members not employed by the City.

“the former CLU members referred to are in fact community members. They are not within the city. They are community members who then presented a memorandum which required a response”

There is no document that allows members to work outside the jurisdiction of the City, it was made by the Chief of Police.

“there is no document that allows us to work outside the jurisdiction of the City. It was made by the Chief of Police”

JMPD members are authorized and supported by the City to testify in other provinces and are paid for accommodation and expenses related to arrests made outside their usual jurisdiction.

“we are authorising our members to go and testify, paid by the City for accommodation, to go and testify in KZN for the arrests that they have made there”

The city creates blanket purchase orders (POs) because invoice values in July are unknown, and accounts payable are responsible for dealing with them.

“we create POs because we do not know by then as to what will be the value of the invoice in July. So this becomes a blanket PO”

Contracts are segmented on monthly quotas, and deviations in expenditure must be reported with reasons and mitigations for over or under expenditure.

“Our budget it is segmented on monthly quotas and so for that we report on ... you need to give reasons and mitigations how are you going to mitigate those over expenditure”

Quarterly reports known as SDBIP include budget reports on targets, milestones, expenditure, shortcomings, and mitigation plans.

“we must develop ... SDBIP report covers issues like your targets, your milestone... We set targets and milestones every years so we must report on a quarterly basis ... how much have we spent, where are the shortcomings ... how is it going to be mitigated”

There is a 30-day policy to ensure invoices are processed quickly to avoid punishment of service providers or unnecessary engagement.

“there is a 30-day strict period to ensure that invoices get submitted and they are being monitored ... because there was a tendency of invoices lying somewhere while the people are punishing either service providers or either we are engaging them”

Unauthorized irregular fruitless expenditure meetings (UIFW) occur where invoices, outstanding payments, and related issues are reported and audited via Circular 113.

“There is what we call UIFW, unauthorized irregular fruitless expenditure meetings that are taking place where we report on invoices, outstanding payment ... there is also circular 113 that deals with issues of audit”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini stated that the City does not have a policy for special leave and that he preferred suspension to avoid depleting leave days.

“The City does not have a policy for what we call special leave ... so I felt I cannot deplete my leave days, I will rather request a suspension”

It is alleged that Deputy Chief Dhlamini was influenced by Sergeant Nkosi due to personal relationship and proximity in escalating and assisting with invoices owed by the city to Gubis 85 Solution to get paid, which Deputy Chief Dhlamini denies.

“It is alleged that you were influenced by Sergeant Nkosi due to your personal relationship and proximity in escalating and assisting with invoices allegedly owed by the city to Gubis 85 Solution in getting paid. Sergeant Nkosi has never influenced me in relation to payment of invoices”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini gave Sergeant Nkosi the names of two companies, Ngaphesheya and Elshaddai, and a list of seven other companies purportedly linked to the EFF that might get the tender, but denied leaking any confidential or sensitive information from the City, stating the information came from Mr Mathobela and was merely confirming preference for the two companies.

“I was literally confirming that the two companies would be preferred. It was a choice of words from Mr Mathobela to refer these companies as vehicles, which I adopted in relaying the message to Sergeant Nkosi.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini stated the people claiming to represent the EFF and wanting to pursue bids were unknown to the City political structures and that he did not engage with politicians in the City.

“They claim to be representing the EFF, those people, to say these are bidders that they want to pursue. But I know that within the city I do not engage with politicians and so forth. For reasons best known to me, so much as I was puzzled in that regard.”

The 2024 and January 2025 deployements were irregular, resulting in costs to the City and indicating wasteful and irregular expenditure for which Director Malatji accepts responsibility.

“I think it is established that the , let us just call them the 2024 deployments, were irregular, and the 2025, January deployments, which we have in file, were equally irregular.”

Director Malatji acknowledges that the cost of irregular expenditure in his department has cost the City a lot of money and accepts his responsibility as a manager to prevent wasteful and irregular expenditure.

“Yes, it has cost the City. ... I do. [responsibility to prevent wasteful and irregular expenditure]”

Director Malatji states he would not allocate a large number of sites to one security company because it would create challenges for the City and other contracted providers.

“I would not allocate such a number to one security company because that itself would create a challenge, right, not only for me, but for the City. It would even create a challenge with other contracted service providers once they realize that Gubisi is allocated 37 sites at a go and some are not even located on one, hence I am saying I would not allocate such a large number to one security company.”

Director Malatji suspects the City made appointment requirements as registration as a Traffic Officer and Metro Police Officer for security management positions to prevent security professionals from applying.

“Why would the City make registration as a Traffic Officer and appointment as a Metro Police Officer an appointment requirement for the position in security management? And I therefore drew a conclusion that they are making this appointment requirements because they are well aware that there are security professionals out there who would obviously develop interest into the position and apply.”

Director Malatji confirms he has not lodged any grievance, complaint or report with the City regarding the three suspicions listed about Commissioner Spies since his appointment.

“Since his appointment, I have not. The only correspondence I made was prior to his appointment, and then this appointment gave rise to what I was complaining about... So the short answer is you have not lodged a grievance, a complaint, or a report about Commissioner Spies as it relates to the three suspicions that you have listed in the statement.”

Mid-level people are responsible for contract management including ensuring service providers deliver as per contract and implementing penalty clauses for non-compliance.

“mid-level people that were supposed to go and check upon the service provider, we call it contract management, to ensure that they actually do what they say they do ... there is a penalty clause that must be implemented. That is part and parcel of the contract”

Commissioner Bolhuis was involved in communication and supply of information, letters, reports and documentation to the City, CFO and BAC regarding the extension of the contract during the relevant period.

“I was involved in communication and supply of information, even letters, reports, documentation to the City and to the CFO and also to the BAC in regards to the extension of the contract, yes.”

A service level agreement was concluded between the City and Elshadai Security Services in relation to the land invasion tender.

“at 499 is a service level agreement that was concluded between the City and Elshadai Security Services ... that was in relation to this land invasion tender that was pursuant to that .”

Commissioner Faro was identified as the person to sign the service level agreement representing the City.

“you are identified as the person to sign the agreement or representing the City.”

The full vetting process is currently not required by law and is not formal policy in the city, though it should be.

“And that is the one that you say is not yet required by law? ... It is not informal policy yet by the city, but it should be.”

The city requires senior position candidates to avail themselves for vetting and lower position candidates undergo security clearance or criminal record checks; adverts are public knowledge.

“Yes, as indicated in adverts now for senior positions, it is a requirement that you avail yourself for vetting. On lower positions, it would be for security clearance or to check for criminal records. Those adverts are public knowledge.”

Ad hoc security services requests were assessed through a security assessment and only approved after budget scrutiny and necessary approvals.

“We dealt with adhoc individually and provided services only with the necessary approvals, including documentation... we would receive a request from a service delivery department that they need security services at a specific place... assess that request... by doing a security assessment... if we agree with them, then we determine the type of security that needs to be placed... they need to provide us with a GLO or the service delivery component within the city, falling mainly under the COO, would have to look for money... last resort would be to approach the CFO to ensure that there is money for this...”

The APSS division covers less than half of all its sites in the city and some ad hoc sites required additional oversight and onsite checks to prevent damage or vandalism.

“We do not even cover - I think we cover less than half of all our sites... Some of the adhoc sites that were referred to us as an example, I made sure... I went on-site personally with the team... One of such sites would be Klipgat waterworks where a contractor finalised their duties. No planning was made prior to that for security... We must secure that... if we did not secure that, there could have been damage or vandalism... as a city, as a department...”

Director Malatji was seen as an experienced senior manager in security, overseeing approximately 1300 security guards on a R2.9 billion contract, with some level of support and management, and no mistrust existed towards him at that time.

“my high-level management and oversight was very limited, and I had no reason to mistrust, at that time, Director Malatji. Seemingly, on paper and what I know from him, then he was an experienced senior manager in security. He had support, not much, but he had support, and they ran that division. The amount of people in that division... approximately just shy of 1300 security guards. On contracts still, not even fully absorbed into the city with all the benefits”

The adjustment budget process legally does not allow asking for more money beyond the approved budget; funds for Watchman Services must be sourced within the approved budget if there is a shortfall.

“If you do not do your work and you come to the adjustment budget only and ask for additional funds for Watchman Services, then it means the CFO in the city will have to find funds somewhere else within the approved budget and allocate it to Watchman Services.”

Commissioner Bolhuis and team did not receive the promised handover report from the city as agreed in a specific meeting with the MMC for community safety and others.

“We did have one specific meeting with the MMC for community safety ... where it was agreed upon that all the information would be made available to us and in writing, emails, reports, at a certain time and that was not forthcoming. I did not perhaps in hindsight make enough of a follow-up...”

Due to lack of a formal handover, Commissioner Bolhuis and his team started sourcing information themselves and initiated a new tender process for Watchman Services as the existing tender was expiring.

“We started sourcing the information ourselves, we looked at what we had in front of us, and we were very busy starting the new tender as well, because we had to immediately, I think we started in August, immediately start with a new tender because the current tender was to expire soon and it is quite a process in the city to start a new tender.”

Commissioner Bolhuis claims elements within the city and department use system processes as mechanisms for corruption and wrongdoing, while they themselves were decent and loyal officials used unfairly.

“There are elements within the city and in our department that use the processes and things in place. They use that as a mechanism for their corruption and for their ill-doings. We were used as decent, law-abiding, loyal officials... We were used because it happened under our nose. And it is shameful.”

On 22 October 2021, Justice Molopa-Setosa issued a court ruling that the tender be awarded to the 22 companies and the City must enter into a service-level agreement with them, and the tender officially commenced on 1 March 2022 with these 22 companies.

“Then Her Ladyship Justice Molopa-Setosa issued a court ruling on 22 October 2021 that the tender be awarded to the 22 companies and the City must enter into a service-level agreement with this list of companies. And for that matter, it is listed, the court ruling, as RS 25. And then based on that court ruling, the City drafted the SLAs and the tender then officially commenced on 1 March 2022 with this list of 22 companies that was awarded in the ruling by the court.”

The City has introduced a probity process as a second evaluation to detect wrongdoing in tenders, which further causes delays and can lead to cancellation if wrongdoing is found.

“The City has introduced a process called probity. So now it will happen that the BEC will evaluate and do all of this work . Then probity will be the group audit and risk ... They will redo the complete process of the BEC to verify that the BEC did not crook ... Probity could found wrongness ... the report will actually state that there was wrongness and it will be cancelled again. So it is a problematic process of delays that happen because of volumes that is involved.”

The City actually starts the tender process nine months before expiry for tenders.

“as a City, from now that I know of, we actually do start earlier. We take nine months before tenders expire. We as management and TMPD already sit with a nine-month list to say that these tenders will expire in the next nine months.”

To prevent future missing documents, from this year every tenderer must submit both a physical and an electronic digital version of their bid documents, ensuring the versions are precisely the same.

“with the new fresh tender which we started this year, we have added a specification and a clause is that every tenderer shall submit not only his physical documents, he shall also submit the electronic digital version of it so that there will now be two versions. There will be no two versions, there will be exactly the same document, but one will be a digital version that is submitted, which will be then electronically filed by the City, and there will be a hard copy which will then be evaluated to prevent any documents from going missing in future again”

Ad-hoc services are short-term emergency security services added when necessary at sites such as new facilities or CAPEX projects handed over to the City, requiring the City to provide protection once the property becomes City property.

“Ad-hoc also relates to the City departments will identify, they, for instance, have CAPEX projects where they build new facilities... When he hands it over to the City and it becomes the City's property, the moment that happened, the City must become responsible for the protection of that.”

Watchman Service guards are permanently allocated to high risk sites such as energy substations across the seven regions of the City, while lower risk sites have either no guards or technology based security like alarms.

“The City had a total of 1087 sites... They were then categorised in category high risk, medium risk, and low risk. And the high risk sites... is the infrastructure sites like energy substations... Those sites are then allocated to security guards over the seven regions of the City. And when it now gets to 2025, the portion of those sites have got permanent guards because they are considered high risk... The lower risk is either no guards or technology, maybe alarm system deployed to them.”

The ad hoc deployment of guards at 1087 to 1251 sites was initiated without prior risk assessments and involved unnecessary and costly deployment.

“The ad hoc was started, it was started on a need and ... when this stopped, immediate with the ad hoc, is that we immediately were already busy with risk assessments ... it is still not needed to have all of those sites actually protected in this serious manner of having guards ... which we are looking at, rather than deploying people to those sites at a massive cost to the city.”

Deputy Commissioner Bolhuis refused to sign off on any documentation or request additional funds for unauthorised ad hoc sites and ordered an investigation into this conduct due to potential audit queries affecting the city and department.

“I am not signing off any documentation or requesting additional funds ... This will not be entertained ... please launch an investigation in this regard ... this behaviour must stop as it will cause audit queries which will not only affect the department but the city as a whole.”

The Acting Chief of Police signed service level agreements (SLAs) on behalf of the city for a land invasion tender involving eight companies, starting 1 November 2025.

“I was appointed as the Acting Chief of Police for the period 22 December 2025 to 14 January 2026... on Thursday the 15th of January I signed the service level agreement between the land invasion tender companies and the city... this tender is ongoing and as I stated it commenced 1 November...”

The city has paid Ngaphesheya Construction Projects a total of R2,028,54.32 for services ostensibly provided under the tender as of end January 2026.

“The city has thus far paid Ngaphesheya a total amount of R202854.32, ostensibly for services provided to the city in terms of this tender, TMPD 24-25.”

When the list was sent to Mr Mampane on April 30, 2025, the ad hoc security services tender was still ongoing and not a public document.

“In fact, it was not a public document. It was an internal City document relating to a tender process that was still ongoing at the time. ... On the 30th of April when you sent it, it had not been cancelled.”

The document titled TMPD03/2425 Draft Admin R is a draft internal document of the City and is unlikely to have been in the public domain.

“... from where this document starts, its seems from the heading of the document that it is an internal document because the name of the document is TMPD03/2425 Draft Admin R . I am assuming it will be report or whatever the complete name is , but it is a draft document . So it is unlikely that this document would have been , that is a further indication that it is unlikely that it would have been in the public domain because it is a draft document of the City .”

If an appointment was not made in terms of the tender, the existing security providers would continue providing adhoc services to the City until a new tender process was completed and a new appointment made.

“If an appointment was not made in terms of this tender , then the existing suppliers would remain providing adhoc security services to the City until a new tender process had taken place and a new appointment had been made .”

There is a sinister reason for using indirect communication to facilitate irregular payments by changing budgets and increasing target values to extort money from the City.

“there is in fact a more sinister reason for this, which is that if this whole process of increasing target values, extending budgets and the like to facilitate payment of invoices is being done irregularly to extract money out of the City, the General and the CFO would not want to communicate in this regard in the manner in which officials normally communicate”

The General noted that the bid specified Grade B security guards, but the City required Grade A, and asked for information to correct this issue.

“The General says: 'Ngaphesheya is Grade B and has nothing in the documents... We need Grade A guards.'”

There was a phone call to the CFO from a person complaining about unpaid payments owed to their company, threatening to take the city to court if not paid.

“The CFO received a call from a person whom I did not know. And he said he was complaining about the payments that were not made to his company or her company. And her company worked. So, as a result, I think it was a lot of money that was owed to them. As a result, they complained to CFO, threatening to take the city to court if they do not get their payment.”

The disgruntled supplier complained about unpaid invoices to the CFO and the city manager of Tshwane.

“They are threatening to take the city to court. They have also engaged or conveyed the same message to the city manager of Tshwane.”

Sergeant Nkosi engaged with General Dlamini to address the payment crisis with the unpaid company invoice; General Dlamini requested an invoice to confirm the details.

“Then, I have engaged with General Dlamini Umashi. Then I said, the CFO has got this crisis of payment, and the company that they are owing, they are threatening to take the city to court. Then General Dlamini said, let him send you that invoice on the particulars of the company. Then I took the same and forwarded it to General Dlamini.”