A senior ANC politician is due to be arrested on Thursday by the Investigative Directorate (ID), dubbed the “new Scorpions”, on charges of corruption related to state capture.
He was expected to hand himself over at the Alberton police station in the morning and to appear in the Palm Ridge magistrate's court.
This comes as the Hawks on Wednesday nabbed six of the seven alleged masterminds behind another “state capture” tender: a R200m asbestos audit project in the Free State. The remaining person is expected to hand themself over, said Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, adding that there was “no point in them running”.
These are the first arrests resulting from evidence led before deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo’s commission of inquiry into state capture.
The ANC arrest has been confirmed by several sources in various law-enforcement agencies, including the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), where the ID is located. The ID was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year to investigate and mount prosecutions in potential criminal matters emanating from the inquiry.
It was also empowered to investigate commercial crimes.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity until the senior ANC figure is arrested and appears in court on Thursday.
The insiders indicated that the matter related to the suspect’s allegedly criminal and corrupt dealings with the controversial government service provider, Bosasa.
Damning evidence has been led before the inquiry, implicating several high-ranking ANC personalities in allegations of serious acts of corruption involving huge amounts of money.
Bosasa, a facilities management firm, is estimated to have raked in about R12bn in government tenders between 2003 and 2018, largely through managing several prisons and the Lindela Repatriation Centre.
Evidence heard at the inquiry has detailed how Bosasa and its top executives granted questionable loans and gifted millions of rand to some ANC leaders, with the governing party also benefiting as an organisation.
Bosasa went into voluntary liquidation in February after several financial institutions opted to close its bank accounts, as the institutions sought to distance themselves from serious allegations of corruption.
Also this week, the commission heard evidence from Edwin Sodi, director of a firm called Blackhead Consulting, which boasted a more than R1bn annual turnover in 2014 and 2015, mostly from lucrative government tenders.
The inquiry heard how Sodi made payments, identified as “red flags”, amounting to R34m to ANC politicians and government officials, starting in 2014.
A day after his testimony, the Hawks swooped in on six of seven alleged masterminds behind a multi-million-rand project to audit and assess households in the province with asbestos roofing.
The Free State department of human settlements awarded this tender to Sodi’s and another company, Diamond Hill Trading, the owner of which, Ignatius “Igo” Mpambani, was shot dead in Sandton, Johannesburg, in 2017.
Those arrested on Wednesday are expected to appear in court in Bloemfontein on Friday.
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