Criminal complaint laid against ANC Tshwane deputy mayor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will pursue a criminal case against African National Congress (ANC) Deputy Mayor of Tshwane, Eugene Modise. 

The DA’s Tshwane mayoral candidate, Cilliers Brink, and Spokesperson for Finance, Jacqui Uys, laid a criminal complaint against Modise at the Brooklyn Police Station today.

This is after investigative reports in council linked Modise to irregular benefits from a city contract.

“We believe, as canvassed in our complaint, there are issues with criminal implications in this matter, including potential fraud and contraventions of the Combating of Corrupt Activities Act,” said Brink.

The party has gone one step further, enlisting civil rights organisation Afriforum’s private prosecutions unit to assist with the matter.

The unit is headed by former chief prosecutor for the National Prosecuting Authority, Gerrie Nel, known for his success as a prosecutor for high-profile cases, such as the Oscar Pistorius and Jackie Selebi cases.

“Because we know that so many of these complaints go lost, go missing or die a slow death if they are not actively pursued. This is what we are trying to achieve. There has to be accountability,” Brink said.

The forensic investigative report revealed in council was conducted by Ncube Incorporated and proved that Modise benefits from a company that secured a security contract worth R300 million from the municipality.

Modise was previously the director of the company, Triotic Protection Services. The Deputy Mayor told investigators that he sold his shares in the company by means of an instalment sales agreement. 

However, he could not produce any documentation to prove that such an agreement exists.

As such, investigators could not verify that the beneficial interest in Triotic Protection Services passed to the new owner, Neo Mafodi. 

The deputy mayor revealed that he has continued to receive payments from Mafodi since the sale. 

“This means that, although he no longer holds a formal role or equity interest, he retains a financial risk to the security company,” the report reads. 

Investigators could not get hold of Mafodi, despite numerous attempts to contact her.

Modise also continues to obtain a rental income from the property where the security company is based. 

The Deputy Mayor did not declare his financial interests in Triotic and failed to disclose his entire multimillion-rand property portfolio. This leaves him in breach of the Municipal Systems Act.

Triotic was appointed as a security service provider to Tshwane in February 2022, at the time Modise held the position of ANC Tshwane regional secretary.

Confidential report submitted as evidence

The R300 million tender was awarded to 22 companies, including Triotic. 

Modise claims to have resigned as director of Triotic in February 2023, just days before he became a City of Tshwane councillor. 

“He immediately resigned from Triotic when he became a councillor, as he did not want to be the point of focus and further put his party into disrepute,” the report reads. 

Even so, Modise’s failure to disclose interests in the company is a contravention of the Code of Conduct for Councillors. Modise’s response was to tell investigators that he misunderstood the declaration rules. 

The report recommended that immediate disciplinary action be taken against the ANC councillor. 

Despite this, the council instead voted to establish a special committee to consider the findings of the report and make recommendations to the Gauteng MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). 

“In the meantime,” Uys added, “Tshwane has twice extended its contract with Triotic without following tender procedures, incurring at least R170 million in irregular expenditure.”

The DA MP accused the ANC and their coalition partners of “kicking the can down the road” by referring the case to a council committee. 

The report was marked by the speaker of council as confidential. “This is explicitly against the code of conduct for councillors, which requires these kinds of reports to be public,” said Brink. 

“This is how the DA will treat it,” he added. The DA has used the confidential report as its evidence when lodging the criminal case with the police. 

The Municipal Systems Act Section 32 dictates that “a councillor may not without the permission of the municipal council or a 10 committee disclose any privileged or confidential information of the council or
committee to any unauthorised person,” leaving Brink and Uys potentially at risk of misconduct.

However, the report can still be used as evidence by SAPS in a case against Modise, if it is deemed relevant and in the interests of justice.