Pretoria Businessman Tshepo Khoza
Pretoria – A local businessman, Tshepo Khoza, has been handed a six-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, for cheating the taxman out of millions earned from government contracts. The 42-year-old director of Grey Apple Trading Enterprise (Pty) Ltd tricked the South African Revenue Service by claiming his company was not active, even though it pocketed about R3.6 million from tenders between 2015 and 2018. These deals came from the South African Police Service, tied to a DNA project under the Forensic Science Laboratory unit. The conviction, part of a bigger probe called Project Blue Lights, shines a light on how family ties to a top police official helped land the work, raising red flags about corruption in public buying.
Khoza’s case shows the heavy cost of dodging taxes, as officials stress it robs funds meant for schools, hospitals and social help. Sentenced in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 8 December 2025, he starts his time behind bars right away, with the suspended part hanging over him if he slips up again. A separate corruption trial, where he faces charges with others, picks up on 22 February 2026. This win for SARS and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption boosts hope in the fight against graft, especially as South Africa grapples with a sluggish economy and high joblessness at 33.5%.
Guilty on Multiple Charges: Fraud and VAT Dodge Exposed
Khoza faced the music on three counts of fraud, one classed as a serious Schedule 5 offence due to the scale and impact. He also got nailed for not signing up for Value-Added Tax, breaking section 234 of the Tax Administration Act. The court heard how he hid the company’s earnings from SARS, pocketing cash from SAPS tenders without paying his share. These contracts, worth R3.6 million over three years, flowed in thanks to his link to a senior police official – a relative who swayed the awards.
Project Blue Lights, a joint SARS and law enforcement drive, dug into the mess after tips on dodgy deals. Investigators found fake dormant claims, undeclared income and no VAT payments, costing the state big in lost revenue. Schedule 5 status means harsher bail rules and longer possible jail time, underlining how seriously the law views stealing from public coffers. Khoza’s defence argued for a lighter sentence, citing family duties and first-time offender status, but the magistrate stressed the betrayal of trust in a country where every rand counts for the poor.
This is not Khoza’s first brush with trouble; earlier probes linked him to other tender issues, but this conviction marks the first jail time. His company, started in 2012, focused on supplies for police labs, but the hidden profits sparked the fraud charges. The case took years to build, with SARS auditors poring over bank records, invoices and tax forms to prove the deceit.
Family Ties and Tender Wins: How the Scheme Unfolded
The tenders at the heart of the case came from SAPS’s Forensic Science Laboratory, part of a push to upgrade DNA testing tools. Grey Apple Trading landed the work despite questions about its skills, thanks to Khoza’s family connection to a high-ranking official in the unit. This link gave him an inside edge, letting the company snag deals worth millions without full competition checks.
Between 2015 and 2018, the firm billed for equipment and services, raking in R3.6 million. Instead of reporting this to SARS and paying taxes, Khoza marked the business as dormant – meaning no activity – and skipped VAT registration. This dodge let him keep more cash, but left a paper trail that investigators followed. The corruption angle, set for trial in February 2026, digs deeper into how family pulls swayed public spending, a common gripe in South Africa’s fight against nepotism in government buys.
Nationwide, tender fraud costs billions yearly, hurting services for millions. In Gauteng alone, probes have uncovered over R10 billion in dodgy deals since 2020, with family ties often at play. Khoza’s case adds to a growing list of convictions, like recent ones in KwaZulu-Natal where officials got jail for similar scams.
SARS and IDAC Team Up: A Win for Joint Anti-Corruption Efforts
The bust came from close work between SARS and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, showing how teaming up can nail complex crimes. SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter and IDAC Head Advocate Andrea Johnson praised the partnership, saying it builds public faith in the system. “Tax fraud is not a victimless crime. It is theft from the national fiscus and, ultimately, from the millions of South Africans who depend on government services for education, healthcare, and social support. Every rand stolen through fraudulent schemes undermines our country’s ability to deliver on its constitutional mandate. SARS will not tolerate such conduct. We will pursue every case relentlessly, and those who choose to defraud the system must know that accountability is certain and justice will prevail,” Kieswetter said.
Johnson echoed this, noting the case as part of a wider strategy to break networks that hurt fiscal health and trust. Project Blue Lights targets blue-light brigade perks and related fraud, uncovering ties between business and officials. Since starting in 2023, it has led to over 50 arrests and R500 million in recovered funds nationwide.
This outcome boosts SARS’s drive against evasion, with over 1,000 cases probed yearly. In 2025, the agency clawed back R200 billion in unpaid taxes, up 15% from last year, through better audits and tech like AI for spotting dodges. For the public, it means more money for grants – over 18 million people get social support monthly – and services strained by budget cuts.
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