Ex-spin doctor and National Executive Committee (NEC) member Pule Mabe and six other suspects are expected to appear in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes court on charges of corruption today.
The case involves a controversial R27 million tender for waste collection vehicles, awarded under suspicious circumstances. The tender was allegedly unlawfully awarded to Mabe’s company, Enviro-Mobi, in March 2017.
The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the company a contract to deliver 200 motorised three-wheeled rubbish-collecting vehicles, commonly referred to as karikis or tuk tuks.
Police confirmed seven suspects, including high-ranking officials, company directors, and a former member of Parliament, handed themselves over to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit in Gauteng this morning.
SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo said their arrest follows a forensic report by the Specialised Investigating Unit (SIU) which discovered that in October 2016, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a tender requesting proposals to integrate and formalise waste operatives and waste into the mainstream waste management economy. A tender of around R27 million was then awarded to Enviro-Mobi in March 2017.
Mbambo said the contract agreement between the department and Enviro-Mobi stipulated that the department may consider paying on condition that 50% of the work has been completed and no upfront payments may be made to the service provider.
“During investigation, it was established that the Chief Director and Chief Financial Officer processed and paid over R25 million to Enviro-Mobi for 200 motorised three-wheelers, though all goods were still in the possession of the service provider,” said Mbambo.
“It was also discovered that the service provider later issued a letter of demand to the department demanding a further payment of over R9 million for safekeeping, storage, and ancillary services relating to the fleet. Also that the company failed to disclose in its bid proposal, its affiliation to the politician who was a member of Parliament (MP) and misrepresented to the department that it had supplied the fleet as well as fleet-related services.”
A case was registered at the Johannesburg Central police station in October 2020, which prompted an investigation by the Hawks.
Mbambo said the suspects will be charged with fraud, theft, contravention of the PFMA and Prevention of Organized Crime Act (POCA).
Mabe has been arrested before; in 2013, he was apprehended on allegations of theft, fraud, and money laundering related to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). He was ultimately found not guilty in December 2014.
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