Polokwane mayor John Mpe. (Polokwane Municipality)
Polokwane mayor John Mpe has accused his detractors of creating the false impression that they were whistleblowers exposing corruption in the city because they were unhappy about being cut off from contracts.
He said the “fake” whistleblowers had contacted municipal manager Thuso Nemugumoni demanding that they also be “allowed to eat”.
This comes after leaked documents surfaced on social media last week purporting to show that the municipality had awarded a tender worth R56 million to Nemugumoni’s boyfriend.
Mpe alleged that one so-called whistleblower had called the city manager, saying: “We are aware that it is your time to eat, we are just saying also allow us to eat.”
“Is that the language of a whistleblower and somebody who wants to fight corruption? If there’s somebody who must benefit from our projects, it’s our community,” Mpe said.
“You can see that this person might be even from the inside [the municipality]. This has made us realise that we are stopping the rot, hence they have been looking at what they can get from this person [Nemugumoni]. We need to fight corruption — not on the basis of who is benefiting.”
Mpe said some former contractors with the municipality were angry that work previously done by them was now being insourced and were trying to create the impression of widespread corruption in the municipality as payback.
He cited the example of the City of Polokwane taking over the maintenance of the Peter Mokaba Stadium, work which had previously been done by private contractors. The city had also cancelled contracts for fleet cards — credit cards used to manage expenses for municipal vehicles.
“Now it is our workers that are cleaning the stadium and the stadium is in good condition. We show tangible things that we have stopped. There were Polokwane fleet cards, which were being managed by private contractors. The question is why would the municipality hire somebody to organise fleet cards for its own cars? Why can’t they go to their banker?
“The cards were from [one] bank while the municipality was banking with another bank. The municipality was paying that service provider R1.5 million monthly and we got rid of it. People were upset when we started saving R3.5 million from the fleet tender arrangements that were not proper.”
In a letter dated 23 July and seen by the Mail & Guardian, Limpopo MEC for the department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs Basikopo Makamu asked Mpe to provide a report within seven working days on the allegations that had surfaced on social media. The letter indicated that the Democratic Alliance had approached Makamu’s office on the matter.
A source said a company owned by Nemugumoni’s partner, who is reportedly Zimbabwean, had been paid more than R56 million and that at least seven other companies owned by Zimbabweans were given preference over South African firms. Without naming the companies, the source said they were awarded contracts for construction, road works, bulk water services and consulting.
Spreadsheets allegedly showing payments in relation to these companies have been making the rounds on social media.
Mpe said, as mayor, he does not know who gets paid when, because that is an administrative process. He also questioned the credibility of the information, saying one spreadsheet showed payment for services rendered in 2026 while another was handwritten.
“We are in 2025 now,” he pointed out. “This just shows it’s not credible information. Why must we start an investigation on information that is not credible? Where there is credible information, we will have to investigate.”
He said the company allegedly linked to Nemugumoni’s boyfriend had been working in Polokwane, and various other municipalities, and it would be unfair to expect him as mayor to know who its owner was dating. Those alleging that the company was owned by Nemugumoni’s boyfriend should provide proof, he added.
“We have over 2 000 employees and we have probably 100 of them in senior positions. How will I know who is having a boyfriend? How will I manage that part? If they have got [tangible] information about such a relationship, which would be a conflict of interest between the accounting officer and that particular person, they need to bring that information to us,” he said.
“Going into the personal life of somebody means I must [summon] the city manager and say, ‘Who is your new boyfriend and what is happening in your life?’ from time to time.”
He also disputed the allegation that the municipality has preferred Zimbabwean-owned companies over South African ones.
“They have mentioned eight companies out of more than 150 companies that are doing business with the municipality.
“If people have got permanent residency and IDs in South Africa, can you stop them from doing business in South Africa on the basis that they were born somewhere in Malawi? You can’t do that.”
The source who spoke to the M&G said Mpe was facing another corruption matter with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), in which the unit wanted to force the municipality and Mpe’s Makoro Foundation to provide it with bank statements.
This, according to the source, was to check that companies doing business with the municipality, including that of Nemugumoni’s boyfriend, were not giving kickbacks to Mpe through the foundation.
But, an affidavit dated 24 July 2025, which the M&G has seen, shows that the Hawks in Limpopo withdrew the urgent application which had been set to be heard at the Polokwane high court this Tuesday relating to an investigation for corruption, fraud and money laundering against Mpe, his foundation and the municipality.
In the affidavit, the Hawks offered to pay Mpe’s legal costs and those of the other respondents in the matter.
In an interview with the M&G on Monday, Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo initially professed to have no knowledge of the matter.
But in a subsequent media release a day later, Mbambo acknowledged the existence of the matter, saying the Hawks “respects the decision taken by the high court sitting in Polokwane pertaining to the withdrawal of an urgent application against the Polokwane municipality, mayor John Mpe and the Makoro Foundation”.
“The matter was struck off the roll today, 29 July 2025, by the Polokwane high court, to allow the respondents to finalise an interlocutory application. The Hawks’ urgent application will be re-enrolled and heard within the next month,” she said.
Mbambo added that this development “does not affect an ongoing criminal investigation, which continues without interference. The investigating officer is acting independently and without any external influence, fear, favour or prejudice.”
On Monday, ActionSA’s chairperson in Limpopo, Victor Mothemela, opened a corruption case against Mpe and the municipal manager, citing allegations that also surfaced on social media that R750 million was irregularly paid to companies whose owners have close ties to both of them.
Build One South Africa’s leader in Limpopo, Ngako Setji, has also approached the Special Investigating Unit asking for a forensic inquiry into the allegations.
Mpe said the issue had been drummed up by his detractors in his party (the ANC) who were trying to find something against him. He alleged that some police officials were taking instructions from their political masters.
“This is orchestrated from within the organisation,” the mayor said. “There are people who are within the ANC [but] are no longer with the ANC by their conduct and their actions, you can see.”
Mpe acknowledged the need to fix governance in the municipality, which he said had a culture of impunity for wrongdoers.
“If we had bad intentions, why would we appoint people who have credible qualifications to fix some of our challenges, to fix the internal control deficiencies that we have?” he said.
“So, they then say, ‘What can we get from him [Mpe] so that he stops these administrative reforms?’ If we were not doing our work in Polokwane, how did we improve the audit outcome in the 2022-23 financial year and maintain those improvements over the past three years?”
*This story has been updated with new information from the Hawks*