Thabiso Hamilton Ndlovu found guilty of contempt, failing to comply with forfeiture order. Picture: Supplied.
Thabiso Hamilton Ndlovu, a well-known Covid-19 tenderpreneur who won lucrative contracts totalling over R170 million during the pandemic, has been ordered to be imprisoned for 30 days.
The Special Tribunal has ordered the Johannesburg businessman to be imprisoned for 30 days after the Tribunal found Ndlovu in contempt of the Tribunal’s forfeiture order issued on 7 June 2022.
Judge Lebogang Modiba had ordered the auction or sale of all assets owned by Ndlovu and his affiliated companies to reclaim the outstanding debt owed to the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).
Ndlovu is one of the many beneficiaries of corrupt contracts that provided the government with personal protective equipment (PPE) and services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In August, four luxury vehicles from Ndlovu’s much-bragged-about fleet were auctioned in the state’s attempt at recouping about R172 million that Ndlovu scored in 19 unlawful PPE tenders awarded by the NHLS in 2020.
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Ndlovu and his associated companies have, however, failed to surrender the following assets as part of the forfeiture order:
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said in a statement that the 35-year-old engineering solutions company CEO’s imprisonment is suspended for 30 days to allow Ndlovu to comply with the Tribunal orders.
Additionally, Ndlovu has been fined R500 000, which is suspended in full for a year, provided he is not found guilty of contempt of the Special Tribunal’s instructions during that time.
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“Initially, Ndlovu cooperated, but his failure to fulfil his obligations demonstrated wilful noncompliance and deception,” the SIU said.
“Furthermore, Ndlovu’s entities Akanni Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd and Zaisan Kaihatsu (Pty) Ltd applied to overturn the forfeiture order, and the application was dismissed with costs due to lack of valid defence and failure to prove that their defaults were not wilful.”
Meanwhile, according to a 2022 Bloomberg report, the lengthy SIU probe into dodgy Covid-19 contracts found that 2,803 of 5,467 health equipment deals worth about R14.3 billion were improper.
The investigation was authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in mid-2020 after he asked the Auditor-General (AG) to look into the tenders.
The AG’s report on the issue found that the government failed to implement efficient spending controls over the R500 billion allocated for relief funds.
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Additional reporting by Cornelia le Roux
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