Court told Malusi Booi part of suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield’s ‘multimillion-rand tender enterprise’

Malusi Booi, the City of Cape Town’s former human settlements mayoral committee member, faces accusations that he, with others, including another fired colleague, was part of an enterprise that was cashing in via unlawfully obtained tenders.

The 11 flagged tenders were worth around R850-million.

The State has also alleged that suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson headed the enterprise – and that Booi’s ex-wife, Nomvula Mnyaka, was given a Rolex watch by Stanfield in connection with corrupt tendering.

These details emerged on Wednesday, 11 September 2024 in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court when Booi and nine co-accused made their first appearance.

Charges against them relate to fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering.

Overlapping cases

Stanfield and Johnson were not in the dock on Wednesday as they face criminal charges in another matter, initially focused on vehicle theft and fraud, that started developing when they were arrested in September 2023.

With several other co-accused, they are expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court for that case on Friday via video link.

Booi, meanwhile, and his nine co-accused, are also expected in the dock again on Friday, when their case is expected to be merged with the Stanfield-Johnson case.

Booi, a former DA councillor, and his co-accused face charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act after they were arrested earlier in the week.

Read more: Ex-Cape Town mayco member Malusi Booi arrested in ‘major probe linked to 28s gang, construction tenders’

While the State did not oppose their being granted bail, they were not released from custody on Wednesday.

The lawyers representing some of the accused proposed bail amounts including R2,500 and R5,000, while the State wanted amounts of R100,000 and, in Booi’s case, R200,000.

‘Booi accepted gratification from Stanfield’

According to a draft charge sheet against Booi and his co-accused: “Ralph Stanfield and Nicole Johnson were the main role players in the Enterprise, making arrangements to facilitate and fund the unlawful activities, including agreements with suppliers, agreements with persons such as Accused 1 to 10…

“To directly or indirectly and wrongfully and unlawfully accepted and/or agreed and/or offered to accept gratification and/or other benefits from another to obtain tenders from the City of Cape Town.”

Booi is mentioned several times in the draft charge sheet.

A section says: “Malusi Booi accepted and/or agreed and/or offered to accept any gratification from Ralph Stanfield in order to carry out or perform certain, powers, duties or functions arising out of his employment as members of mayco, in order to act, by using their influence with others to obtain tenders, for the benefit of Ralph Stanfield.”

Read more: Glomix ban — Treasury blacklists 28s gang case accused Nicole Johnson’s company for 10 years

Aside from Booi, the other accused charged alongside him are: Suraya Manuel, Abdul-Kader Davids, Siphokazi September, Nomvuyo Mnyaka (who appears to be Booi’s ex-wife), Muhammadh Amod, Randall Mullins, his wife Brenda Mullins, Thuli Imgib, and Lorna Mdoda.

Rolex watch and R500,000

During Wednesday’s court proceedings, the state alleged that Booi’s ex-wife, Mnyaka, received a Rolex watch from Standfield.

“The watch was a result of her involvement in corrupt tendering processes… and it is valued at R690,000 and she also received a R20,000 cash payment in relation to the Rolex,” State prosecutor Nathan Adriaanse said.

It was also alleged that Booi’s ex-girlfriend, Mdoda, received about R500,000 in her bank account.

“The charge of money laundering against her was that Standfield and Johnson were making payments from their accounts to her account and her account was used to make payments back to Malusi Booi,” Adriaanse said.

As for Booi’s other co-accused, Daily Maverick previously reported that Manuel, an accountant, was arrested in May 2024 in a case linked to Stanfield’s brother Kyle.

Connections

Kyle Stanfield was arrested a month before Manuel, in April 2024, after Stanfield allegedly asked him to remove items that police planned to seize for the car theft investigation that started developing when Stanfield was arrested last year.

Read more: How cops are dismantling The Firm’s ‘gang empire’ and developing a mega court case

Another of Booi’s co-accused, September, is the city’s former public housing director. In January, the city confirmed to Daily Maverick she had been dismissed.

In terms of September, the draft charge sheet said: “[She] accepted and/or agreed and/or offered to accept any gratification from Malusi Booi and Ralph Stanfield in order to carry out or perform certain, powers, duties or functions arising out of her employment as the Director of Maintenance and Upgrades in [the] Human Settlements Department.”

‘Collusion’

During Wednesday’s court proceedings, reference was made to a company Johnson headed, Glomix House Brokers.

Daily Maverick previously reported that Glomix had intermittently, for more than a decade, been involved in housing projects in Cape Town worth millions of rands.

The Treasury blacklisted Glomix earlier this year.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, Adriaanse said allegations in the case included that Booi and Manuel, who worked for Glomix, had influence in Standfield and Johnson receiving tenders.

Read more: SAPS, City of CT scandals ‘linked’ to Ralph Stanfield investigations grow

“Glomix is one of the companies headed by Nicole Johnson and Standfield and they had numerous tenders granted to them… there was collusion by different companies under the umbrella of Johnson,” Adriaanse said.

According to the State, Glomix and another company not named in court, as well as a third company, Boon Africa, received 11 tenders from the City of Cape Town amounting to R850-million.

“These three companies colluded together in applying for the tendering process, this was done to the prejudice of the City of Cape Town. The same people ended up receiving R350-million worth of tenders. These were not independent applications that were submitted but collusive applications,” said Adraanise.

He said the State had bank records of the flow of money and signatures of documents that were submitted to the City of Cape Town for tender applications.

It was alleged that the role Booi played in these tenders equated to money laundering totalling R4.5-million. Other allegations were that certain companies paid R2.5-million to Booi.

‘We need to swim with sharks’

The courtroom was packed during Wednesday’s proceedings. Among those present was Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile.

After the court proceedings, Patekile applauded the work of the police in the case and said there was a greater task ahead.

“We are not ruling out that we may have been swimming with sardines but we need to swim with sharks,” he said.

“We are happy that [on] Friday the Stanfield family will be added to this, as the prosecutor was saying,” said Patekile.

Read more: Murdered suspect’s signature suggests company ‘linked to 28s gang’ won defence contract

The Western Cape’s National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said: “There [were] large amounts of money received by these individuals and they worked together for an enterprise that was led by Ralph Standfield and his wife, which we ended up calling it a Ralph Standfield and Nicole Standfield enterprise and the main purpose of this enterprise was to get tenders from the City of Cape Town for their benefits,” he said.

Crackdown

Booi was arrested in the Eastern Cape late on Monday, 9 September. His other co-accused were arrested in Johannesburg and Cape Town the following day.

Daily Maverick previously reported that Booi’s City of Cape Town office was raided as part of a fraud and corruption investigation in March 2023.

During that investigation, Stanfield’s name had surfaced. At the time of the raid, Booi was not arrested.

Read more: DA’s suspended Malusi Booi ‘fears for his life’ after police probe into alleged gangster links

Booi subsequently told Daily Maverick the allegations against him “do not exist”.

He said that because his name was being drawn into the scandal, his “life was seriously under threat”. DM