A special Council meeting called by the ANC-led coalition in the metro ended abruptly on March 5 without any business being conducted after the report that councillors were meant to consider was not tabled.

The meeting had been convened to consider allegations raised by the ANC against the city’s chief financial officer (CFO), Gareth Mnisi.

However, with no report presented, the meeting was adjourned, leaving both the allegations and the political tensions surrounding them unresolved.

The DA has since questioned why the meeting was called without the necessary documentation and has raised concerns that the move against the CFO could be politically motivated.

Tshwane DA Caucus leader Cilliers Brink said councillors had arrived expecting to debate a report but were instead left with no information.

“No such report actually came to the special Council meeting where we conducted no business,” Brink said.

“The purpose of the meeting was to consider a report containing allegations from the ANC. We would like to see the report, and if it warrants an investigation, then such an investigation must follow.”

Brink said the DA had reason to believe that the attempt to move against the CFO might not be driven by the reasons stated publicly.

In a media briefing in February, the ANC called for the immediate suspension of Mnisi, accusing him of maladministration and incompetence.

“We have reasons to believe that there may be motivations other than those mentioned in public,” he said.

According to Brink, the ANC appeared uninterested in other serious concerns involving municipal procurement.

“The ANC does not seem to be animated at all by the fact that its own MMC for Finance currently benefits from an undisclosed contract with the city for watchman services,” he said.

The DA claims there are at least two instances where the CFO cancelled tenders that could have benefited people linked to the same political leadership now raising allegations against him.

“There are two instances where the same official the ANC now wants to go after cancelled tenders that would have benefited some leaders,” Brink said.

One of these cases involved a watchman services tender cancelled at the end of 2025 after what Brink described as material irregularities were discovered in the procurement process.

“Had that tender been awarded, a bidder with links to the Deputy Mayor, Eugene Modise, stood to benefit. The company is called Bathlokomedi Management,” he said.

The DA has already laid criminal charges against the MMC for Finance, accusing him of being the beneficial owner of Triotic Protection Services, another company supplying watchman services to the metro.

Brink said these issues should be the focus of oversight rather than what he described as politically motivated attacks on officials.

“All irregular expenditure must be investigated by the Council and by the CFO. Because a bill is high on this score, you do not go after the person. You go after the specific instances of irregular or unlawful expenditure and if he is implicated, then you investigate him,” Brink said.

He warned that using Council processes to target officials could undermine efforts to prevent corruption.

“We have strong reasons to believe that there is an attempt to move against officials who have blocked questionable tenders,” he said.

Brink added that the DA would approach the SAPS to expand an existing fraud and corruption case relating to Triotic Protection Services to include possible links involving Gofa-One Business Enterprises and Bathlokomedi Management.

First security contracts. Now water tanker tenders. We have exposed links between Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise and companies doing business with the City of Tshwane. Public officials cannot benefit from municipal contracts while residents struggle with failing services.”

— Cilliers Brink

The party also intends to request a forensic investigation by the Special Investigating Unit into the city’s water tanker procurement, which it says has escalated dramatically.

According to the DA, water tanker expenditure in the metro rose to about R777-million during the 2024/25 financial year, representing a 455% increase.

The ANC in Tshwane has rejected the DA’s allegations, saying the report was not tabled because it had not yet been finalised.

ANC Greater Tshwane spokesperson Joel Masilela said the party did not want to present councillors or residents with incomplete findings.

“We did not want the report tabled when it is incomplete,” Masilela said.

He said the party remained convinced that the investigation had uncovered serious concerns involving senior officials in the city administration.

“We are certain that there are quite a number of issues of misconduct of quite a number of officials,” he said.

Masilela dismissed the DA’s claims about political motivations as baseless.

“The allegations by the DA have no substantial evidence. They are a figment of their own imagination because these are officials who came into the metro’s employ during their tenure,” he said.

He also defended the ANC’s handling of water tanker services and accused previous administrations of failing to provide water infrastructure in informal settlements.

“Before 2016, we never had such numbers because the ANC was attempting to formalise informal settlements by providing them with clean running water,” he said.

Masilela said the current coalition government had already begun reducing reliance on water tankers.

He said the ANC would present the completed report to Council once all findings had been compiled.

Masilela said the party hoped to table the report before the end of the month.

He ruled out bringing in private forensic audit firms at this stage of the process.

Instead, he said the ANC would rely on law enforcement agencies and Council oversight structures once the report is finalised.

Modise has rejected the allegations against him made by the DA and said he had no current involvement in the companies mentioned.

He told Rekord that he resigned from the companies long ago, and had properly declared his interests.

He further disputed claims linking him to Bathlokomedi Management and also rejected allegations that he is the beneficial owner of Triotic Protection Services, a company supplying watchman services to the metro. According to him, the matter had already been examined through an official investigation.

He added that all the allegations form part of what he described as a politically motivated campaign against him.

Modise said he had since visited a police station regarding the complaint of the DA against him and believed law-enforcement authorities had recognised the matter as politically motivated.

“At least this time the law-enforcement authorities have noticed that this is a political gimmick and an insensitive, desperate campaign,” he said.

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