Whistleblower warned Gauteng officials about R16.9m school theft claims — then says nothing happened

A whistleblower who accused Gauteng government officials, consultants and contractors of allegedly siphoning R16.9m from a school construction project says he warned the department more than a year ago — but his allegations were never properly investigated despite officials promising to involve their risk management unit.

Nhlanhla Mkhize, the owner of Mkhize Gcwabe Properties (MGP), made the allegations in an affidavit lodged with the South African Police Service in connection with the R116m Semphato Secondary School project in Soshanguve.

His complaint centres on four alleged instances of theft totalling R16.9m, which he says were facilitated through payment certificates for work that did not exist.

The allegations include forgery, corruption, theft by false pretence and conspiracy to commit crimes.

The affidavit says the alleged theft involved payments for preliminaries, roof sheeting and trusses, paving, roads and parking, and masonry.

Mkhize says he first became suspicious after MGP was brought into the project in January 2024 to assist the original contractor, Yaweh 1 Construction and Projects, shortly before its termination.

At the first technical meeting, Mkhize says the project was presented as 55% complete, with expenditure of R48.4m. But his company’s assessment placed actual progress at 23.48%, with expenditure of R31.4m. The difference, according to the affidavit, was R16.9m.

“The claimed progress figure was vastly different from our own audit at feasibility stage.”

Mkhize says the discrepancy only became clearer as MGP examined the project’s payment certificates and physical progress.

He alleges that the department had paid for work that did not exist, including more than R6.1m for paving, roads and parking.

The affidavit says 71% of the budget for paving roads and parking had been paid between September 2021 and the end of 2022.

But when MGP arrived in 2024, Mkhize says there was no paving on site.

What was being measured and approved for quality when there was no single paving brick on site?

The allegation is particularly significant because Mkhize says payment certificates were supposed to pass through several layers of scrutiny before money was released, including consultants, the construction project manager, the department’s project management team, management and finance.