Cape Town - Axed City of Cape Town Mayco member Malusi Booi is set to make his first appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court today after being busted for corruption charges linked to alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield.
Nearly a year after his offices were raided and his electronic equipment seized, the Cape Argus can reveal that police arrested Booi at his home in the Eastern Cape on Monday.
Booi, who was the former Mayco member for human settlements, was suspended by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis in March last year as it was revealed police had launched an investigation into an alleged R700 million mega-fraud probe.
According to a source at the municipality, Booi’s arrest comes amid a probe into the links between construction companies owned by underworld figures such as Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson.
The alleged links between Johnson’s companies and officials in the human settlements department came under scrutiny last year, when City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo blacklisted her companies.
Earlier this year, Mbandazayo revealed that as the investigation unfolded, a handwriting expert found that one person had filled in all the tender forms completed by rival bidders, which indicated alleged tender collusion.
The City manager then blacklisted three more firms at the completion of the investigation. The source said this was the basis for Booi’s arrest.
“This comes down to the investigation of the links with Ralph Stanfield.
“It was suspected that he was feeding tenders to Stanfield’s construction companies by using officials in the human settlements department and that is why the cops also arrested City of Cape Town officials on Monday.
“We know that Malusi was arrested at his house in the Eastern Cape and the cops also took his wife and another female who was formerly a high ranking City official.”
According to a search warrant in possession of the Cape Argus, the raid on Booi’s office saw cops seize properties owned by Stanfield, Johnson and alleged gang boss Jerome Booysen.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said eight people have been arrested as part of a protracted investigation into alleged fraudulent and corrupt activities at the City of Cape Town’s human settlements directorate.
“The Western Cape SAPS commercial crimes unit detectives with the Anti-Gang Unit’s organised crime investigators swooped on a location in the Eastern Cape, where they arrested a 46-year-old suspect on Monday evening.
“The arrest follows an investigation initiated by commercial crimes detectives that saw the investigators descending on the City of Cape Town offices in March 2023 and seizing a number of items as part of their probe.
“Meanwhile as this investigation unfolds, another team from the same police units also arrested three other suspects in Johannesburg early on Tuesday morning.
“With the take-down operation progressing, four other suspects were also arrested in Cape Town yesterday,” said Potelwa.
Potelwa said the four suspects arrested outside of Cape Town were being transported and were expected to join the other suspects in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court today on charges that relate to money laundering, racketeering, corruption and extortion fraud.
“The arrests are seen as a significant milestone in this major investigation, with the suspects charged and brought before court. The possibility of further arrests in the matter cannot be ruled out,” she said.
In late June, police made a breakthrough when they arrested three suspects for the murder of City official Wendy Kloppers who was gunned down while she was conducting an inspection at the R500 million Symphony Way Housing Project site in Delft.
Kloppers had been seated in her car with her colleague when they came under attack.
Mbandazayo, at the time of her death, said it had come after the City had refused to give in to gangsters who had demanded work at the site.
Stanfield and Johnson, along with their co-accused, face an array of charges related to an alleged criminal enterprise dubbed “The Firm”. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
Stanfields’s name had popped up during an investigation of Booi who is alleged to have accepted bribes from underworld figures. There had been allegations that Booi had accepted bribes from underworld figures.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said that Booi was not a member in good standing.
“I know Malusi Booi is not a current member in good standing or valid DA member and thus I note that the law is taking its course,” he said.