Hawks bust ex-Gauteng senior official over Free State Asbestos tender scam

Former acting head for Gauteng Department of Human Settlement was arrested by the Hawks yesterday, July 20, for her involvement in the ‘much-talked about’ – Asbestos scandal.

It is alleged that, the 56-year-old suspect fraudulently received R7 million payments from a supplier in the Free State government asbestos project.

It is reported that during the period of 2014 and 2017, an irregular contract was awarded to a service provider for the eradication of asbestos roofs by the department of Human Settlement in Free State.

“The suspect who was the Acting HOD of the department of Human Settlement in Gauteng also authorised the same service provider irregularly in Gauteng, and she then fraudulently received an amount of more than R7 million from the service provider,” says Free State Hawks spokesperson captain Christopher Singo.

Singo further says , the matter was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team for further investigation which culminated to the arrest of the suspect on Wednesday.

Twelve other accused including five companies have already been arrested regarding the asbestos case.

The suspect is expected to appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrates today, whilst the other twelve accused are expected to appear before the Bloemfontein High Court in September.   

A huge contract to audit and assess homes with asbestos roofing awarded by the Free State’s department of human settlements in 2014 contravened several procurement laws and regulations.

This contract saw more than R200-million squandered from the province’s coffers with no “value for money”.