By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Police Services (SAPS) has confirmed the raid of the offices of Cape Town mayoral committee members Xanthea Limberg and JP Smith on Friday.
SAPS Western Cape spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said, the raids were in relation to “tender fraud in the construction sector within the City of Cape Town municipality”.
In a statement, Traut said: “Their presence is part of forensic investigations which emanate from a case that is running before courts. Several municipal officials and business owners are facing a myriad of charges that relate to the same investigation.”
He said whether the investigation by the commercial crimes detective team would lead to arrests remained to be seen. “As of now, no one has been arrested. Suffice to indicate, the team requests space to conduct its investigation. Speculation about who the investigation is directed at, seizure of items and possible arrests would be premature at this point.”
Limberg is the MMC for energy and Smith the MMC for safety and security.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has requested an urgent briefing from SAPS after commercial crimes investigators raided the offices of two MMCs.
“I note the raid by authorities at the offices of MMCs JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg, who have informed me they’ve offered full co-operation to the SAPS but have not been made aware of the allegations” said Hill-Lewis.
“I’ve requested an urgent briefing from SAPS to understand the details of this matter and will determine further actions once this has been received.”
In response to the raid, Smith posted a lengthy statement outlining that he had been “tipped off” that some “political actors” have been working on a smear campaign targeted at him – and mobilised a “political ‘hit-squad’ against me”. Smith claimed he had been alerted to this some months back.
He claimed to have been informed that “senior ANC politicians have been briefed by members within SAPS”.
“In addition, a concerned person has sent me recordings of conversations that, even just at face value, reveals a political conspiracy against me by political office bearers, a private security company and possibly that of members within SAPS. [It is] yet undetermined at this stage if these are past employees or still serving within SAPS still today,” Smith said.
African National Congress (ANC) Western Cape provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed says that the party has called on the mayor to suspend the pair “pending further investigation “as was the case when former councillor Malusi Booi’s offices were raided by SAPS.
Booi was arrested in September 2024 in a crackdown related to a major construction tender investigation linked to the 28s gang.
Sayed said the party has repeatedly warned of Smith being “untouchable” when oversight was being conducted on local government, particularly in his department.