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09.03.2026 14:05
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“When the state becomes weak or corrupted, it opens space for ‘violent entrepreneurship’, the use or threat of violence to control business environments.”
Mark Shaw explains how organised crime exploits public projects and weak governance.
AmaBhungane managing partner Sam Sole tells CapeTalk how PRASA security boss Alexio Papadopulo allegedly pressured contractors to subcontract to companies linked to Stanfield to “keep the peace” on the rail rebuild.
Watch the full conversation:
And by 2022, we had information he’d allegedly met directly with alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield over the reconstruction of Cape Town’s Central Line.”
“He first surfaced during Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign as part of the president’s security team. Soon after, he turned up at PRASA as acting head of security.
Read the full investigation: Alleged 28s gang boss ‘captured’ mega rail project – with Prasa’s ‘help’
– Sam Sole, managing partner, amaBhungane, speaking to Lester Kiewit about the capture of Cape Town’s Central railway line.
When Stanfield was brought in, and his linked organisations were brought in, from Prasa's point of view, they solved that problem. But the question is, you know what compromise is involved in that?”
“It's a classic protection racket that we've seen in the construction industry; it's a classic mafia racket. You produce violence or the threat of violence, and then you say, you've got to cut us in…
Papadopulo told at least one contractor that the contact person for them to deal with was Stanfield’s brother, Kyle Stanfield, giving them his cellphone number to contact.
Prasa security head, Alexio Papadopulo, used his private and work emails to persuade Cape Town central line contractors to work with companies associated with reputed 28s street-gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his family enterprise.
Alleged organised crime boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife, Nicole Johnson, captured chunks of government’s multi-billion-rand Cape Town central line reconstruction project, with the apparent support of Prasa security head Alexio Papadopulo.
But Vision is piling on the pressure to reach a deal before a judge has anything to say.
Analysis: Mozambican group RGS has launched a last-ditch attempt to intervene in the Tongaat Hulett liquidation and evict the Vision consortium from its controlling position.
Banks, business rescue practitioners, lawyers and bidders have feasted on the vulnerability of KZN sugar giant Tongaat Hulett in business rescue, to the point of collapse. It’s time for government to impose some accountability.
Read our latest story: Invalid R263 million tanker tender rolls on as Johannesburg’s taps run dry
A company profile, which was provided to us after the story was published, showed that the two entrepreneurs, Emmanuel Sserufusa of Builtpro and Sibuyile Magingxa of Nutinox, were also business partners in another company.
But our research showed that until April 2023, these two supposedly independent bidders had listed that same bogus address in Waterfall Estate.
In 2024, Johannesburg Water appointed two little-known companies – Builtpro and Nutinox – to provide water tankers to the City at an estimated cost of R263-million over the next three years.
Read our latest story: Invalid R263 million tanker tender rolls on as Johannesburg’s taps run dry.
It’s rumoured that the City plans to buy another 60 tankers, which would allow it to get out of the tanker hire business for good. But for now, the City is fighting to keep its tanker contracts in place and plans to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling.
A month later, the Johannesburg High Court declared that a three-year outsource contract to supply water services to the City was “invalid”.
Is the City of Joburg insourcing the water tanker business?
In November, Mayor Dada Morero announced that the City had acquired 20 water tankers to “navigate around the challenges posed by costly and often questionable tender procedures for purchasing water tankers”.
