A senior official in the Tshwane metro police department, who has been on suspension since July, has conceded at the Madlanga commission that the city may have paid out millions of rand to service providers for work that was not done.
Tshukudu Malatji, director of asset protection services in the department, is accused of creating the need for ad hoc services that led the city to issue a multimillion-rand tender to outsource the guarding of municipal infrastructure and its personnel to outside security companies.
Testifying at the commission on Thursday, Malatji said the metro had been unable to safeguard all of its infrastructure since 2013. As a result, he suggested there was a need for ad hoc security services.
However, he said, the city did not have enough capacity to monitor whether the companies were performing what was expected of them.
“The city has 1,216 sites, inclusive of reservoirs, substations, pump stations and similar installations. Of these, only 545 sites are protected through the contracted security service providers,” he said.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi asked Malatji whether it was possible or probable that the city had paid invoices for services that had not been rendered, as in some instances it had relied only on the word of the service provider that the work had been completed.
“I agree,” Malatji responded.
I did not generate and/or create purchase orders for Gubis85 during February to June 2025 for ad hoc services. Purchase orders are created by the responsible finance office at the [metro police] head office
— Tshukudu Malatji, TMPD director of asset protection services
At the centre of the tender are three companies that are alleged to have ties with criminal syndicates — Gubis85 Solutions, Izingwenya 210 Investment and Triotic Protection Services. Deputy mayor Eugene Modise is a former director of Triotic.
Gubis85 Solutions, owned by Calvin Mahlangu and Precious Magubane, was paid the most — over R59.1m — between July 2024 and June 2025.
Evidence before the commission suggests that Gubis85 Solutions was allocated more sites outside its jurisdiction, while the other companies were restricted to providing services in their area jurisdictions.
However, Malatji and Sean Bolhuis — who was the caretaker of asset protection and testified on Wednesday — told the commission that they did not allocate Gubis85 Solutions any sites.
“I did not generate and/or create purchase orders for Gubis85 during February to June 2025 for ad hoc services. Purchase orders are created by the responsible finance office at the [metro police] head office,” Malatji said.
Bolhuis also suggested inspector Lebogang Phiri, who served as manager of ad hoc services, was the one who might have irregularly allocated Gubis85 Solutions the sites.
Phiri is yet to testify at the commission.
Evidence in the form of e-mails before the commission shows that Malatji ignored instructions from his superiors in March 2025 when they ordered him to cancel the allocation of sites and stop the ad hoc services, as there were strong allegations that some of the companies had been irregularly assigned sites.
Malatji told the commission that at some point, when Gubis85 Solutions was not getting paid for the work it claimed to have rendered, it complained to him.
When commissioner Sandile Khumalo asked him why they complained to him, he said it was because its office bearers knew him.
He said after that, he requested that Gubis85 Solutions submit a report to him, and he had it checked with the department that was supposed to have requested their services.
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