Mabe, an ANC national executive committee member until he stepped aside under party rules in October 2024 when he was criminally charged, and one of his companies, Enviro Mobi, approached the Special Tribunal to temporarily stop the SIU’s application to review and set aside the alleged illegal administrative conduct, recovery of public funds and the reversal of any unjustified enrichment he received.
Mabe wanted the tribunal to stay the SIU’s application as well as the finalisation of the criminal proceedings pending in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Mabe and Enviro Mobi are facing multiple charges including fraud, theft and money laundering. Their co-accused are Mabe’s wife Mmatlhekelo; business partner Tinyiko Mahuntsi; former officials of the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDard), among them Loyiso Mkwana, Thandeka Mabasa, Matilda Gasela and Abdullah Mohamed Ismail; as well Kariki Media Holdings. The accused are out on bail.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Gauteng division, Johannes-burg spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said a pretrial conference on the matter was held on Thursday.
At the tribunal, Mabe and Enviro Mobi argued that continuing with the SIU’s application before concluding the criminal proceedings would generate material prejudice to them and undermine the fair, efficient and orderly administration of justice.
The SIU investigation found that Enviro Mobi was awarded two similar contracts by the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in 2014 and the Gauteng Department of Environmental Affairs in 2017, to supply the three-wheel motorised vehicles, which resemble a “tuk-tuk”.
While implementing the Free State contract, Mabe was the sole director of Enviro Mobi, at the time known as KGP Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd t/a Enviro Mobi, a name adopted in May 2014. Mabe then resigned as director and was replaced by Mahuntsi. According to the SIU probe, Mabe allegedly continued to control Enviro Mobi’s principal bank account until the scheme uncovered.
The investigation also found that Mahuntsi received less than R1m from the funds received from GDard. In August 2017, GDard gave permission to Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to participate in its contract with Enviro Mobi for the procurement of 70 additional three-wheel motorised vehicles for just over R9m. The 70 vehicles, for whom Enviro Mobi was paid before delivery, were additional to an earlier 50 allocated to Ekurhuleni under the GDard’s roll-out programme.
The SIU said more than 90% of the funds GDard and Ekurhuleni paid to Enviro Mobi were transferred into bank accounts controlled by Mabe, who used the money for his personal benefit, that of entities under his control and certain other individuals.
The SIU found that the advertising and awarding of the contract were irregular. Enviro Mobi beat nine other companies to secure the contract. The corruption-busting unit established that the tender process had been orchestrated to facilitate the flow of funds from GDard to Mabe through Enviro Mobi.
In March 2019, the SIU seconded two investigators to then-Gauteng premier David Makhura’s office after an agreement to assist with the contract, valued at R27 599 250, GDard awarded to Enviro Mobi.
The investigators compiled a forensic report recommending that disciplinary and other action be taken against the implicated officials, the department institute civil proceedings to recover payments made to Enviro Mobi and charges of fraud be pursued against the company.
The SIU resolved to seek a presidential proclamation, which President Cyril Ramaphosa granted in April 2021, in order to conduct an in-depth investigation.
In his submissions at the tribunal, Mabe said that because the investigation that resulted in the forensic report was conducted before the proclamation was issued, the proclamation was tainted as it was issued on the strength of information and recommendations generated through the pre-proclamation process. The forensic report and the investigative outputs derived from it were unlawful, unconstitutional and inadmissible.
On Monday, September 28, Special Tribunal Judge Brian Mashile found that Mabe’s contention could not be sustained in the face of the provision that the investigation was preliminary and undertaken to determine whether sufficient grounds existed to justify an application to Ramaphosa.
Mabe had contended that he would be prejudiced by the continuation of the SIU’s application as the parallel criminal proceedings were pending.
He said the criminal charges arose from the same facts underlying the SIU’s application and that the overlap between the civil and criminal processes created a possibility that the findings the tribunal made, including those based on the disputed forensic report, might influence, contradict or prejudice positions that might have to be adopted in the criminal proceedings.
Mabe also feared the increased risk that the SIU and the NPA would rely on the same investigative material including the pre-proclamation forensic report and any derivative evidence obtained from it.
But Judge Mashile was unconvinced: “In the absence of demonstrable prejudice, there is no sufficient basis for staying these proceedings pending the finalisation of the criminal matter. On the facts before the tribunal, Mabe has failed to establish that the hearing of the main (SIU) application while the criminal proceedings remain pending will infringe, limit, or otherwise adversely affect the fair trial rights afforded to him under section 35 of the Constitution”
Mashile said the matter concerned allegations involving the expenditure of public funds and the lawfulness of public procurement processes, issues that carried a significant public interest and warranted timely judicial determination. The judge also found that Mabe and Enviro Mobi launched their high court review application after the SIU bid to hold them accountable had progressed towards adjudication. He said the stay application followed thereafter.
“This sequence is highly persuasive of the SIU’s contention that these proceedings were not commenced out of genuine necessity but rather as part of a litigation strategy designed to delay the hearing and final determination of the main (SIU) application,” the judge said, dismissing Mabe and Enviro Mobi’s application.
Earlier this year, the NPA dismissed representations submitted by Mabe and his co-accused to have the charges against them dropped.
The case was postponed to December 8 to continue the pre-trial conference, according to the NPA's Mohlatlole.