The Hawks’ spokesperson, Tebogo Thebe, confirmed that a raid was conducted this morning by its members.

Without providing many details about the operation, Thebe said the purpose of the search and seizure operation came after allegations were received. He said following these allegations, a decision was taken to conduct a search and seizure to investigate the allegations.

“Therefore, our investigation has just commenced. Two laptops and two desktop computers were seized for further investigations. The municipality cooperated and we are thankful.” 

Computers were seized for further investigations. Photo supplied

The Hawks in the province recently arrested nine people linked to alleged tender fraud worth R16 million, regarding personal protective equipment (PPE).

Following the arrest of these suspects, Thebe said: “In line with the government’s commitment to prosecuting those who unduly benefitted from Covid-19 related crimes, particularly the procurement of PPE, the Hawks served nine suspects and two companies (juristic person) with J50 warrants of arrest on Wednesday 23 August 2023.”

The suspects are accused of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The Northern Cape Department of Health suffered a loss of almost R17 million. 

In March 2022, Premier Zamani Saul vowed that his provincial government would deal with and root out corruption cases in municipalities across and departments of the province.

Zamani said this after his provincial government partnered with the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks, amongst others, to launch the Local Government Anti-Corruption Forum.

Spokesperson of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Thoko Riet, has been contacted and will reply at a later stage.

This is a developing story.

OFM News