Politics

Hawks swoop in on businessman with close ties to the ANC party

Tuesday, November 03, 2020 at 2:45 PM by Samantha Riddle

- The Hawks have moved in on Thulani Majola's LTE Consulting on Tuesday with a search and seizure operation

- The raid is linked to a R77 million Covid-19 contract for the SAPS which was awarded in April

- Both Majola and his company have become somewhat infamous for the multi-billion-rand Giyani water deal

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The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation moved in on Thulani Majola's Sunninghill offices on Tuesday morning in an operation aimed at his company LTE Consulting.

Officers were spotted at the offices along with what appeared to by Hawks officials, according to a report which noted that forensics officials were also on the scene.

A senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained that the seizure was linked to a R77 million contract awarded to the company earlier this year.

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Hawks swoop in on businessman with close ties to the ANC party — Thulani Majola has long been known to have close ties to the ruling party. Image: LTE Consulting
Source: UGC

News24 reports that the contract was to supply the South African Police Services with three million face masks amid the Covid-19.

Majola himself was not arrested but instead questioned and his cellphone was seized, according to the report. Attempts to reach the businessman and his company were unsuccessful.

Both the man and the company have been linked to the infamous Giyani water project, which entailed a multi-billion-rand controversy.

City Press had reported three years ago that the contract, awarded by the Lepelle Northern Water Board, had seen the contract grow from R100 million to R2.2 billion after emergency procurement deviations.

This amount would later spike to R3.2 billion; despite the steep cost, the work in question remains incomplete.

Former president Jacob Zuma had signed a proclamation authorising the Special Investigating Unit to probe the project which would see the unit attempting to recover over R2 billion from LTE.