Sean Bolhuis, the Tshwane Metro Police Department’s deputy commissioner for Training and Innovation, testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday.
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“We were used as decent, law-abiding, loyal officials, both me, the Chief of Police (Yolande Faro), and other officials, because it (corruption) happened under our noses, and it’s shameful.”
This was the testimony of Sean Bolhuis, the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) deputy commissioner for Training and Innovation, before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday.
It had earlier been revealed that ad hoc security services meant for emergencies were abused to the point that at one stage, Tshwane had 43 ad hoc security services sites, costing TMPD millions of rand.
Bolhuis was brought in for his role as caretaker of the Asset Protection and Security Services (APSS) at TMPD from July 2024 to March 2025.
Bolhuis explained that the APSS handover was mismanaged, and there was no handover report when it was moved from the office of the city manager to TMPD.
He added that with this unit, he inherited the now-controversial R2.9 billion security tender, TMPD 02-2016/2017, which included two components: monthly payments for watchman services covering the 22 security companies and ad hoc services assigned as needed to suit the requirements of various municipal departments.
The commission heard that there were irregularities in the assigning of new ad hoc sites, as Bolhuis had not authorised the addition of new sites as the acting head of APSS.
“Given the issues raised at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, I need to point out that at the very next level under me, while I was the caretaker of APSS, was Director Tshikudu Malatji, who managed the APSS function from a management point of view, and the day-to-day running of the function, including the management of the security contract in place,” he said.
Bolhuis added that regarding the allocation of sites, Malatji was required to inform him of any such site allocation to any of the service providers due to operational, financial, and possibly contractual obligations. However, this never happened.
“While acting as a caretaker of the APSS, specifically during January and February 2025, I was not approached nor made aware of any ad hoc allocation of sites to any security company, including Gubis 85 Solutions PTY Ltd, or any other service provider. In particular, I was not privy to the allocation of additional ad hoc sites allocated to Gubis 85 Solutions.
“As a result, I would not, and I do not know, the number of sites allegedly allocated to Gubis 85 Solutions, nor the value of the services provided by Gubis 85 Solutions. Safe to what has already been presented to the commission through the evidence of Deputy Commissioner Revo Spies,” Bolhuis said.
He added that he had later become aware that during his time, sites were allocated to Gubis 85 Solutions and other service providers, without his knowledge or involvement.
The commissioners were concerned that he co-signed invoices for security services despite the lack of purchase orders, to which he conceded. The irregularities were later flagged by the finance division.
The commission’s evidence leader, Advocate Teboho Mosikili, asked Bolhuis whether he did his best to ensure that APSS was properly handed over to him.
Bolhuis said, it is clear, looking back now, at what has transpired, that there are elements within the city and their department that use the processes and mechanisms in place for corruption and wrongdoing.
“Once the ugly things come out, it’s not so easy to say you have done your best because you scrutinise yourself and think, what could you have done better? So, I’m a very hard person on myself.
“Have we done our best? Well, I don’t think we have. Could we have done much better? Yes, we could. I should have personally done more. I stand for what I have done and what I haven’t done on APSS,” he said.
He added: “We could have done better, but it comes down to the fact that you trust people, and you don’t want to enter into a space with the immediate mistrust. If there had been any form of indication to us or me, I could have maybe put more measures in place to ensure that the system is very tight and that wrong things can’t creep through,” Bolhuis stated.
gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za