Businesses linked to Nicole Johnson, the wife of alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, have reportedly been backlisted by the City of Cape Town.
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Seven companies, all run by Johnson, were blacklisted. City Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo confirmed this to the Daily Maverick on Thursday, adding that he could not reveal how the list of companies was uncovered but that the City found that all of them were being run by Johnson.
He stated that the City launched an investigation into construction-related tenders after City of Cape Town official Wendy Kloppers was gunned down in Delft earlier this year. The incident occurred at the Symphony Way Housing Project building site.
According to Mbandazayo, her death came after the City denied the demands of gangsters who wanted work from contractors at the housing project. ‘I decided to suspend all tenders and instead have a closer look at all of them.’
The investigation is still ongoing.
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Mbandazayo provided information to IOL that ‘only addressed companies who were blacklisted from doing business with the City of Cape Town based on the risk they pose to the city’s reputation’.
‘As it relates to reputational risk, a total number of seven companies were blacklisted, all of which are affiliated with Ms Johnson in one way or another.’
Two of the construction contracts that were awarded were reportedly cancelled due to the ‘risk the contractor poses to the City’s reputation’.
He added that the investigation ‘also saw some of the officials from the Human Settlements Department being suspended and others are attending disciplinary hearings.’
‘They were even tailor-making tenders before they went out so those same companies could easily apply and be granted those tenders.’
Stanfield’s name reportedly surfaced during an investigation involving Malusi Booi, who was fired as a Mayco member for human settlements in March. The investigation was meant to determine whether Booi accepted cash from underworld figures in exchange for information about housing tenders.
However, Booi was not criminally charged and he resigned as a councillor at the end of October.
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