‘Bozwana blocked ANC Premier League tenders’

Four months before he was killed, North West billionaire Wandile Bozwana successfully stopped the former North West Human Settlements MEC Collen Maine from distributing tenders worth R470 million. This is among the latest allegations that Bozwana’s supporters believe could also have led to him being killed execution-style last month. Bozwana was shot and killed on the N1 near Garsfontein off-ramp in Pretoria on October 2. He was with a female companion when his attackers fired nine bullets into his body. Last week, a special Gauteng police task team nabbed two suspected killers of Bozwana, in what they believe is a major breakthrough in their investigations. The men, aged 30 and 40, briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday for the first time. They were remanded until December 9.

The police have, however, remained tight-lipped on the nature of their investigations. But former Taung Local Municipality councillor Mothusi Montwedi has alleged that the police were also investigating the circumstances around the issuing of R470m tenders and Bozwana’s decision to interdict Maine and his former department from doing so. The Star has seen documents showing that Bozwana made an urgent court application challenging Maine and his then head of department Moss Kgantsi to give reasons why they failed to follow procedures in the allocation of those tenders. The court application came after Maine and Kgantsi apparently failed to respond to two letters of demand dated June 8 and 11. In his court papers, Bozwana argued that some of the contracts awarded to build RDP houses in Delareyville, Vryburg and Christiana were not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

He also alleged that one of the companies, Barzani 69, was awarded a R166m tender but was not registered with the CIDB. Other allegations include: Heinpret NR t/a RS Rekopane Project had a grade 1 CIDB certificate which means it can only be awarded tender worth not more than R200 000. But the same company was awarded a tender of R61m in April. Tshikamotha Trading and Trading also had a grade 1 certificate but was awarded a R55m tender.M Civils was awarded a R24.4m tender but its grade 8 CIDB certificate was suspended in 2014. Maseno General Trading had a grade 7 certificate allowing it to do business up to R40m, but was awarded a tender in excess of R55m. White Leopard Trading also has a grade 7 certificate and was given a R55m contract. Malapane Property Service and Development had a grade 5 certificate allowing it to do business up to R6.5m, but it was awarded a R55m contract. Bozwana was granted the interdict, which the department subsequently appealed.

On Sunday, Montwedi claimed that Bozwana had blocked those tenders because they were actually intended for the “ANC Premier League” to allegedly influence the outcome of the recent ANC Youth League and Women’s League conferences. The ANC Premier League is said to be led by the premiers of North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Montwedi initially made these claims at Bozwana’s memorial service on October 9, during which he linked North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo to the murder. His comments led to him being placed on suspension. At the memorial service, Montwedi said: “Wandile was a businessman of a special type to the ANC. He used to fund branch, regional and even provincial programmes of the ANC where there was not even any election of any leadership and not only conferences of the ANC like we see today with the premier league.

“They said he was corrupt, the question is how can a corrupt man fight against corruption as it was the case with Wandile. He was fighting corruption in NW Human Settlements Department for having awarded R470m worth of tenders without following normal supply-chain processes,” Montwedi said. “These funds that were used to fund raise for the national conferences of ANCYL and ANCWL,” he said, adding that Mahumapelo was leading a government “that killed Bozwana”. The ANC in North West has warned its members against making malicious claims against Mahumapelo. The premier has also, in his personal capacity, undertaken legal claims against some of his accusers. Maine, who has since resigned as MEC to take up the full-time position as president of the ANC Youth League since his election in September, has not responded when approached for comment.