CAPE TOWN – Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to fully investigate and root out any gang links from its Central Line contracts, following shocking allegations that a notorious gang boss may have infiltrated the multi-billion-rand presidential reconstruction project.
Investigative Report
His demands come after an AmaBhungane investigative report revealed that alleged gang boss Ralph Stanfield appears to have used Prasa’s security chief to capture a share of the rail agency’s Cape Town Central Line reconstruction project. According to the investigative report violent disruption of the Central Line project created pressure for security solutions, after which companies linked to Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson positioned themselves as subcontractors within the reconstruction contracts, particularly through Mzansi Securifire, which received around R600-million in Central Line contracts from 2022 to 2024.
“I am calling on Prasa to suspend the implicated officials pending a full investigation, establish the total amount of contract-funding that flowed to gang-linked companies and pursue the black-listing of those companies where applicable,” said Hill-Lewis. “We know this can be done as the City successfully ensured the national blacklisting of more than a dozen gang-linked companies following our own investigations. The state must shut all potential avenues of funding to gangsterism and root out corrupt officials working with the underworld. In this way we will cut key funding streams to gang bosses off and reduce the scope for organised crime in our city.
Senior police
“Even more concerning is the reported alleged involvement of a senior police official, pressured to onboard gang-linked subcontractors. On 6 September 2022 Bishop Lavis’ then-Acting Police Station commander allegedly emailed crime-intelligence officers, Prasa executives and a main Central Line contractor, inviting them to meet the next day at Manenberg Police Station to discuss security issues. AmaBhungane reports that, based on its understanding, at this meeting Prasa’s contractor was introduced to representatives of two SMME security companies linked to Stanfield – GParm Protection Services and PPE Security and Projects – and were told they would help resolve the security situation, along with Yibaninati (Pty) Ltd, founded by Johnson, Stanfield’s wife. The implications of gang infiltration into the police are simply too serious to ignore,” said Hill-Lewis.
“That is why I further call on the police Provincial Commissioner to initiate a full investigation into the circumstances of this meeting at Manenberg Police Station, where an acting station commander was said to have actively promoted Stanfield-linked security SMMEs to a Prasa contractor. There were several people reportedly present, including Prasa officials and the contractor, who can account for the true events of that day. All of this is in the context of Prasa’s security chief allegedly actively promoting Stanfield-linked companies, even in the face of contractor push-back, seemingly in an attempt to get Prasa’s procurement machinery to adjust the main contracts so the agency could subcontract Stanfield-Johnson-linked companies as its security providers. It is reported that contractor push-back culminated on 20 September 2022, with Prasa’s Western Cape lead programme manager [MENTION THE NAME IN SQUARE BRACKETS PLEASE] emailing the Central Line main contractors to indicate he had raised their concerns with Prasa CEO Hisham Emeran. He had asked that the contractors duly inform Prasa in writing about ‘your reservations about the onboarding of the identified SMMEs and the facilitators.’”
The Central Line, which connects communities across the Northern Suburbs and broader Cape Town, has been a critical transport artery for thousands of daily commuters before its closure due to vandalism and safety concerns.
