Cape Town - Relatives and employees of alleged gang boss, Ralph Stanfield, say their arrest by the Hawks amid a R4.6 million cash bust has obstructed them from obtaining government tenders.
The claim was made in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Friday, as Stanfield’s brother, Kyle, appeared alongside his mother-in-law, Barbara Johnson, and employees Suraya Manual and Nondabula Phakamisa on defeating the ends of justice charges.
Kyle was busted in April when police swooped on a flat in Claremont and found him in possession of a staggering R4.6 million in cash.
A week later, Johnson was busted as police raided her home in Mitchell’s Plain and confiscated various electronics including cellphones, hard drives and computers allegedly linked to Glomix CC, a construction company owned by Stanfield’s wife, Nicole.
Court documents later revealed that Kyle had allegedly received instructions from Stanfield, who is being held in Brandvlei Prison, to remove items police had planned to seize in the raid.
It was later revealed that Manual had worked as a freelance accountant for the notorious couple while Phakamisa is employed as a quantity surveyor for Glomix CC.
The group were subsequently released on R10 000 bail and returned to court on Friday where their defence lawyer, advocate Bruce Hendricks, called on the State to finalise its investigation saying his clients were facing financial losses.
Addressing the court, the State prosecutor explained that detectives were still analysing the cellphones confiscated in the raids, saying they needed to analyse more than 22 000 files found on the devices.
Meanwhile, Hendricks claimed the police had three months and called on them to urgently finalise their investigations.
“My instructions are to object to the remand. The basis of the objection is that this matter stems from April. The State had four months to complete their investigations.
“These cellphones have been taken at the arrest of the accused in April.
“The accused are suffering prejudices as they cannot continue their business.
“They are suffering financially. It is a simple charge of defeating the ends of justice.”
Probed by the magistrate who asked for clarification about how the group were suffering financially, Hendricks elaborated: “Due to the fact that they have this pending case over them they cannot apply for other work. It’s also hampering them from obtaining further business.
“It obstructs them; no one wants to employ them further because of this matter. The accused tenders for work with the government and the pending matter, hence they cannot obtain these tenders and further work.”
Evidence in the possession of the Cape Argus shows that Glomix CC was blacklisted by the National Treasury months before these arrests.
This followed an investigation by City of Cape Town manager, Lungelo Mbandanzayo, into ongoing extortion by gangs that led to the municipality blacklisting 12 companies affiliated to Nicole and Stanfield.
In an interview with the “Cape Argus”, Mbandanzayo said they had uncovered links between officials in the Human Settlements Department with various companies, which are either run by Johnson or are affiliated to her.
After his submissions, the National Treasury barred Nicole and Glomix CC from applying for work with any government department for 10 years after it was found that the B-BEE certificates were fraudulent.
Mabandzayao also recently blacklisted two more companies caught colluding with Nicole for housing developments in Cape Town.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus