Transport minister orders SANRAL probe into R107m tender after Sandton viral video

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has instructed the SANRAL board to investigate a R107 million tender awarded to Moriel Infrastructure Group, the engineering and construction company owned by Lawrence Mudzinganyama, the businessman at the centre of a viral video filmed at a Sandton restaurant.

As The South African reported on 20 September, Mudzinganyama issued a public apology after a video circulated in which he threatened a group of women at Vlamo restaurant on Friday, 18 September.

The apology, issued in his personal capacity, said the language he used was “unacceptable and unjustifiable, regardless of the circumstances that led to the disagreement.” He said he accepted responsibility for his words and conduct, regretted the “fear and distress” caused, and would co-operate with law enforcement. He also said he would seek professional guidance and undertake a conflict-management programme.

In the video, filmed in the restaurant’s powder room, Mudzinganyama is heard telling the women he would put a bullet in them and murder them, and that he could buy the restaurant. He described himself as a wealthy man and the women as poor. He was escorted off the premises after the restaurant owner intervened.

Vlamo issued its own statement condemning the conduct and confirming that a case of intimidation had been opened against him.

What the state is now examining

The R107 million SANRAL tender is the largest single figure now under official scrutiny. SANRAL is the South African National Roads Agency, the state-owned entity responsible for the national road network and for awarding billions of rand in construction and maintenance contracts each year.

Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson has separately called for an investigation into allegations that Mudzinganyama irregularly acquired multiple gradings from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) on the same day. The CIDB grades contractors on a scale that determines the size of public works contracts they may bid for, so a grading is not a formality. It is the gate that decides which tenders a company is allowed to enter.

Minister in the Presidency for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga urged Mudzinganyama to hand himself over to the authorities. “We will find you, no matter how rich you are,” she told SABC News.

Steyn City Properties has announced it will terminate his residential lease.

The Department of Transport and the Department of Public Works are both investigating.

Why the case reaches beyond one restaurant

South Africa’s public procurement system is a recurring site of contest, and the speed with which a private conduct complaint became a procurement question reflects how closely the two are now watched. A tender of this size is large enough to matter to competing contractors and to the public purse. The CIDB grading question goes to the same issue from the other end: whether a company was properly qualified before it was allowed to compete.

Nothing in the material available establishes that the tender was improperly awarded or that the gradings were irregular. Those are allegations under investigation. What is established is that two national departments, the SANRAL board and the CIDB have been drawn into the matter, and that the businessman’s own public statement accepts responsibility for the conduct shown in the video.

The case also lands in the middle of a national conversation about violence against women, which Mudzinganyama acknowledged in his apology.

No court date, charge sheet or finding has been made public in the material available. The Enquirer has not been able to establish whether Mudzinganyama has handed himself over, whether a criminal case beyond the intimidation complaint has been opened, or what stage the departmental investigations have reached.