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Chairman of the state capture commission, Vice Chairman of the Supreme Court Raymond Zondo.
- The Hawks arrested two people on charges related to an illegal Free State contract worth R255 million for an audit of homes that had asbestos roofs.
- The contract was found “not to offer value for money”.
- One of the companies involved, Blackhead Consulting, has come under scrutiny in the state’s capture commission for suspicious payments to high-profile politicians and public servants.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) or Hawks arrested two people on Wednesday in connection with the controversial and illegal 2014 R255 million asbestos audit contract.
A spokesman for the Hawks in the Free State confirmed the arrests but did not confirm the identities of the individuals involved.
The arrests were made by the Hawks as part of a multidisciplinary police team. An official announcement from the team is expected this afternoon.
More arrests are expected, according to the spokesperson.
EXPLANATOR | What You Need To Know About The Free State Asbestos Deal
Hawks spokesman Brig. Hangwani Mulaudzi told eNCA on Wednesday that the operation was aimed at arresting seven suspects in total, in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
State capture investigation
Blackhead Consulting CEO Edwin Sodi made his second appearance before the Zondo commission on allegations of state capture this week to provide evidence of a handful of suspicious payments to high-profile politicians and government personnel at his company.
This included the Deputy Minister of State Security, Zizi Kodwa, who was the spokesperson for the ANC at the time. Sodi claimed that the payments were favors for his friends and were not intended to secure contracts.
The former head of the Free State human settlements department, Nthimotse Mokhesi, also testified this week before the commission that he received more than R600,000 from Sodi’s company.
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane previously found that only an estimated R21 million was spent on the audit itself.
The journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh wrote in his book Gangster status Former Free State Prime Minister and current ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule was also believed to have received money from one of the main players in the asbestos deal, Igo Mpambani, who was shot and killed in Sandton in 2017.
Mpambani’s company, Diamond Hill Trading and Blackhead Consulting formed a joint venture and outsourced the audit work to another company.
This is a developing story.
