Ilze-Mari Van Zyl | 7 April 2024
It is alleged that a construction company run by local businesswoman Nicole Johnson supplied fraudulent BEE certificates on tender applications.
In response, the National Treasury placed the company on a list of restricted suppliers for the next 10 years.
In an exclusive interview, City of Cape Town Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo told the Weekend Argus that the decision to blacklist Johnson’s company follows a municipal investigation into collusion between the ‘construction mafia’ and City officials.
The Weekend Argus reports that these investigations also focused on gang extortion concerning several Cape Town developments.
Johnson is married to alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, who also stands trial for a myriad of offences including theft of a motor vehicle, common assault, robbery and fraud.
In December, the City of Cape Town blacklisted seven companies run by or affiliated with Johnson, and two construction contracts awarded to her were cancelled due to the ‘risk the contractor poses to the City’s reputation’. Two of these companies include upmarket Sorbet salons in Green Point and Canal Walk.
A total of 12 companies have been blacklisted to date.
Johnson applied for two tenders for the construction of houses as the owner of Glomix CC. Mbandazayo says he wrote to her in June last year to raise concerns about the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BB-BEE) certificate after the BEE Rating Agency determined it was fraudulent as it never issued such certificates to Glomix.
According to Dirk Kotze Attorneys, their client (Johnson) had instructed the New Generation Corporate Group (NGCC) to obtain the certificate on her behalf.
They stated that the NGCC received the certificate submitted by Johnson and thus had no reason to question its authenticity.
‘Our client was shocked to discover this fraudulent conduct and is in the process of taking appropriate legal measures against all those involved,’ they wrote in a letter to Mbandazayo.
‘We want to emphasise that our client had no motives to manipulate or falsify the certificate, as they have consistently maintained a level 1 contributor status at all relevant times.’
However, the NGCC stated they could not contact the person employed to obtain the certificate. As per the documents attached to the letter, Johnson and Stanfield paid R50 000 for the certificate.
Mbandazayo informed the National Treasury of the fraudulent certificate, after which the National Treasury informed him of their decision. ‘This means Glomix CC is restricted from doing business with any organ of state for the next 10 years. The Treasury instructed me to write to Johnson and inform her of the outcome which I have done,’ he says.
‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.