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The week kicked off with significant karmic comebacks for two slain whistleblowers who can hopefully rest easy knowing justice is being done in their names.
The first was the arrest of former Emfuleni local municipality fleet manager Lerato Mpholo, 42, at the weekend by the Gauteng political killings task team (PKTT) over the multimillion-rand Emfuleni vehicle tender scandal.
It was Emfuleni accountant Martha Rantsofu who was murdered just after she had flagged the controversial vehicle procurement deal in which the municipality paid more than R16m for 18 vehicles, despite more than half of them allegedly never being delivered.
Rantsofu was gunned down in broad daylight at a tyre fitment centre in Vanderbiljpark in April.
Mpholo briefly appeared before the Vanderbijlpark magistrate’s court on Monday.
Speaking outside court after Mpholo’s appearance, police spokesperson Col Amanda van Wyk confirmed that the matter forms part of the corruption allegations reported by Rantsofu before she was murdered.
Mpholo’s former assistant, Levy Hlalele, is currently on suspension.
A forensic audit completed in February 2026 identified Mpholo as a central figure in alleged procurement irregularities, including bypassing supply chain management processes, colluding with suppliers and pressuring municipal officials during the procurement process.
In addition, the Emfuleni council recommended that criminal charges be instituted against supplier Maboela Forestry and Construction as well as Mpholo and Hlalele while also considering recovering the municipality’s losses from the service provider.
Three months later, it must give Rantsofu’s family some level of comfort to know justice is actively being pursued for her brave actions.
The second development, which relates to the state’s seizure on Monday of lavish homes, Lamborghinis, a Bentley and a luxury boat linked to the Hangwani Morgan Maumela empire, is a firm salute to the memory of slain whistleblower Babita Deokaran.
It’s been five years since Deokaran sent an ominous WhatsApp to her CFO boss about imminent danger to their lives because of her investigation into the financial rot at Tembisa Hospital. A week later she was assassinated in her car after dropping off her daughter at school on August 23, 2021.
While six men have been convicted for the hit on the acting chief director: financial accounting for the Gauteng health department, it was only this week with the confiscation of Maumela’s assets worth R326m that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) could fully flex its muscle.
Immediately after Deokaran’s murder, the Gauteng health department responded with the same lack of alacrity notoriously meted out to patients at its Rahima Moosa hospital, dragging its heels on acting against pawns who played in kingpin tenderpreneur Maumela’s costly chess game extracting R400m in tenders from the Tembisa Hospital, adding moral injury to its list of transgressions.
It was tenacious journalist Jeff Wicks’ series of public investigative exposes that finally lit a fire and spurred the police, AFU and NPA into action.
These two developments show that while the journey towards a corruption-free South Africa is full of potholes, honouring the brave men and women who provided the road maps through tangible action is crucial
The court on Monday gave the green light to the NPA to auction the assets the state believes he accumulated through the R2bn looting frenzy at Tembisa Hospital from 2019.
The NPA will also take over assets belonging to the Maumela family trust.
The assets will be auctioned and the proceeds handed over to the beleaguered Gauteng health department.
To get the order against the Maumela family trust the NPA painted a vivid picture of the “grand scale fraud, corruption and money laundering”, using a report from Morar Incorporated’s head of forensic accounting and investigations Vinay Bositsumune, who investigated 14 entities linked to the Maumela family that received R410m from Tembisa Hospital between January 2019 and August 2022.
The family wasted no time cashing in on the loot with the poshest of properties in Cape Town, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Then they bought not one but four Lamborghinis — a Lamborghini Urus Aventador with an R18m price-tag, a Lamborghini Huracan STO valued at R8,7m; a Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae Coupe for over R18m; and a Lamborghini Urus valued at R7m. They also bought a Bentley Continental GT V8 valued at R5m and a R2m boat.
The National Treasury’s specialised audit services unit also appointed firms to investigate transactions that took place at Tembisa Hospital.
NPA head Adv Andy Mothibi said the NPA’s pursuit of justice continued, particularly in the fight against corruption.
In September last year, the Special Investigating Unit revealed it had traced three syndicates that looted the hospital. One of the syndicates was led by Maumela and pocketed R816m. Another was led by Richard Mazibuko who walked away with R283m.
A third syndicate, only identified as Syndicate X, made R596m, while three companies linked to controversial tenderpreneur and attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala scored R14m in tenders from the hospital.
The report further revealed that 15 former and current hospital employees, including Gauteng health department workers, were paid over R122m to manipulate the supply chain system in favour of the syndicates.
These two developments show that while the journey towards a corruption-free South Africa is full of potholes, honouring the brave men and women who provided the road maps through tangible action is crucial.
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