Whistleblower sparks police raids as investigations into Cape Town’s R1.6 billion tender fraud intensify

An ongoing fraud and corruption investigation linked to R1.6-billion City of Cape Town contracts has resulted in a series of raids at premises that include businesses and municipal officials’ homes.

It was not immediately clear if the raids, carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, 30 September and 1 October 2025, were linked to another investigation centred on individuals who include alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson.

They were previously accused of heading a tenders-for-cash enterprise involving R1-billion allegedly connected with the city’s human settlements arena.

Daily Maverick understands that the probe into those issues led to the investigation of other avenues.

Read more: ‘New evidence’ — stalled R1bn Malusi Booi and Ralph Stanfield tender fraud case still on track

Three sets of high-profile police raids involving the City of Cape Town – one of which has since been declared unlawful and alleged to be the result of a smear campaign – have now been carried out since early 2023.

The City is DA-run, while the South African Police Service (SAPS) is a national remit widely viewed as falling under the ANC.

This has previously caused political skirmishes between the two parties over policing in and around Cape Town.

Regarding Tuesday and Wednesday’s police searches, the City of Cape Town appears to have approached the SAPS, sparking the operation, which suggests the municipality and the police are on the same page in the investigation.

On Wednesday, the SAPS in the Western Cape released a statement on the most recent raids.

R1.6bn contracts

Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the commercial crimes investigation unit was heading “a large-scale, coordinated search and seizure operation at 26 addresses across the Cape Town metropolitan area”.

Targeted addresses included businesses, the private residences of municipal officials and locations linked to people and entities awarded municipal contracts.

“The intervention follows information received from a whistleblower and subsequent preliminary investigations conducted by both the City of Cape Town Municipality and SAPS,” Traut said.

“The ongoing investigation concerns contracts to the approximate value of R1.6-billion, in respect of which search and seizure warrants were duly obtained.”

Evidence, including electronics and documents, was being secured “to establish the full extent of alleged fraud and corruption”.

‘Zero tolerance’

Daily Maverick asked Traut on Wednesday whether the raids were linked to the Stanfield and Johnson matter.

“This is an ongoing investigation and the information captured in our release is what we are prepared to share with the media at this stage,” he responded.

Daily Maverick asked the City of Cape Town about the raids. Its response said municipal buildings and private residences were among the premises that police officers searched.

“In line with the city’s zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption, city forensic services took swift action to assess and report the matter to SAPS, who then undertook a search and seizure operation,” the city said.

Read more: Risky business — City of Cape Town blacklists companies linked to 28s gang case accused Nicole Johnson

This, and with Traut saying that preliminary investigations were carried out by the city and the police, indicates that the City of Cape Town relayed information to the police, which sparked the raids.

News24 reported on Wednesday that the police searches might be linked to the city’s urban mobility directorate.

According to the City of Cape Town’s website, this directorate was responsible for “developing, maintaining and managing Cape Town’s road network and … enabling an efficient integrated public transport system”.

Other matters involving SAPS investigations, raids and the city date back more than two years. These matters loop back to Stanfield and Johnson.

‘Tenders and gratifications’ accusations

Part of an overall investigation into the pair involved a focus on tenders worth around R1-billion and on people who include the City of Cape Town’s former human settlements mayoral committee member, Malusi Booi.

Booi’s city office was raided in March 2023. He was arrested more than a year later, in September 2024. Booi faced accusations of accepting gratifications from Stanfield.

Read more: City of Collusion — the gang suspects and ex-officials accused of crafting Cape Town’s real ‘construction mafia’

A draft charge sheet in that matter alleged that Stanfield and Johnson were “the main role players” in an enterprise that involved people agreeing to give gratification or benefits “to obtain tenders from the City of Cape Town”.

In May this year, the charges relating to city tenders were provisionally withdrawn against Stanfield, Johnson, Booi and other accused in the case.

This means Booi is not facing criminal charges, but these could be reinstated. 

Stanfield, Johnson and several of their co-accused, meanwhile, remain in custody over other criminal accusations.

‘Smear campaign’ and JP Smith

Another set of raids involving the City of Cape Town resulted in legal action against the SAPS. The raids, on 24 January this year, were on the offices of JP Smith, who heads the city’s safety and security portfolio, and Xanthea Limberg, who heads the energy portfolio.

The raids had apparently also formed part of the investigation into, among others, Stanfield and Johnson. At the time, Smith had said it appeared he had been the target of a politically motivated smear campaign.

Read more: JP Smith says unlawful office raid aligns with Mkhwanazi’s dirty politics accusations

“I have been tipped off that some political actors have been working on a smear campaign and have mobilised a political ‘hit squad’ against me,” Smith said.

“Apart from these telltale warning signs, I have been reliably informed that senior ANC politicians have been briefed by members within the SAPS.”

He and Limberg legally challenged the raids, and on 11 September, the Western Cape division of the High Court in Cape Town found: “The search and seizure warrants are declared to be inconsistent with the Constitution, unlawful and invalid.”

‘Political hijacking’ and commission of inquiry

On Wednesday, the most recent raids ignited some political swipes aimed at Smith.

National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams on Wednesday posted on Facebook: “The City of Cape Town offices have just been raided by Commercial Crimes Unit (again). Is JP orite?”

Smith hit back in a Facebook post of his own.

“Despite being vindicated by the Western Cape High Court following the raid on my office, Adams has now sought to link this to the most recent incident.

“Let me be clear, the courts found the raid on my office to be illegal and unconstitutional; it was political hijacking of the criminal justice system similar to what is now being exposed nationally,” he said.

“[The most recent] raid did not involve my office.”

When the raids on Smith and Limberg’s offices were declared unlawful on 11 September, Smith issued a statement in which he referred to “General Mkhwanazi”, KwaZulu-Natal’s police boss Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Before that, in July this year, Mkhwanazi held a press conference during which he made astounding accusations about criminal infiltration into South Africa’s law enforcement arenas.

Mkhwanazi alleged that now sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu had effectively undermined investigations into political killings.

Mchunu has denied any wrongdoing.

Read more: Questions Senzo Mchunu may have to answer at the Madlanga Commission

Mkhwanazi’s accusations are now the focus of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

Smith, in his September statement about the unlawful raids on his and Limberg’s office, had referred to what Mkhwanazi had earlier alleged.

“The claims that Minister Mchunu had been briefed on criminal cases sounded familiar, as I know for a fact that he had been briefed on the plans to search my office,” Smith said.

Mchunu has not publicly responded to this.

He is expected to be a witness at the Madlanga Commission, as well as at a parliamentary ad hoc committee hearing set to begin next week, also investigating Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

Smith was among those recommended to be a witness at the ad hoc committee. DM