Cape Town - Glomix House Brokers, where the wife of alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield is the director, has a tender to build 30 houses in the Valhalla Park housing project.
“The City of Cape Town was not aware of these allegations until the recent media enquiries,” Mayco member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi said on Wednesday.
“The City has subsequently brought these allegations to the Western Cape Government’s (WCG) attention as the contractors were provided from the WCG’s human settlement department’s framework agreement for small and medium contractors.”
The R43 million Valhalla Park housing project began in February 2016 and was suppose to be completed in September 2017, but was halted several times due to ongoing violence in the area.
Stanfield’s wife, Nicole Johnson, is with Glomix House Brokers, one of six contractors to start building more than 700 houses in the area.
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission records reveal that Glomix House Brokers’ physical and postal addresses are those of Stanfield. The records also show Nicole is the director of Glomix House Brokers.
The concerns about Stanfield’s wife surfaced when residents were alerted by a ward councillor that she was given the contract.
In an open letter, residents say they fear reprisal attacks and that the project was brought to an abrupt halt when the previous contractor was continuously forced to pay protection fees and robbed by the 28s, to a point where he had to leave the project site without having built a single house.
“This is shocking news. Does this mean that it will become the norm for gangsters to threaten other contractors?” the community asked.
Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said his understanding was that nowhere on the tender documents did it ask for the applicant to indicate if he/she was a racist or a criminal.
“My understanding is that the tender specification went out and the people who responded met all the requirements. On these forms we look at the company details and whether all requirements are met.
“People who break the law are dealt with,” Madikizela said.
His spokesperson, Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka, said Glomix Housing Brokers responded to their advert to be part of the department’s framework and was successfully registered because the company met all the tender requirements
“The department decided to split the Valhalla Park project into smaller packages and appoint more than one contractor because of the security risk associated with the project.
“Contractors from CIDB GB4 to GB7 contractors were invited to participate in a competitive bidding process and the said contractor was also invited as the company is registered as 4GB contractor
“Seven appointments have been finalised, including Glomix Housing Brokers,” Makoba-Somdaka said.
Approached for comment, Johnson replied on WhatsApp: “You write what you want, no need to respond.”