In 2009–10 the Electoral Commission moved its head office to Riverside Office Park in Centurion under a R320 million lease. The developer, Abland, had as a partner Manaka Property Investments, in which Lehotsa Investments — co-owned by Tlakula and ANC MP Thaba Mufamadi — held a stake. Tlakula, then Chief Electoral Officer, initiated the procurement, sat on the evaluation and adjudicated the award without disclosing the interest.
Complaints by Bantu Holomisa led to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report "Inappropriate Moves" of 26 August 2013: "her independence and the objectivity in the entire process may have been compromised." A National Treasury forensic investigation found the process not "fair, transparent nor cost-effective". Tlakula, by then Commission chairperson, argued the Public Protector had no jurisdiction over the IEC and said "I was never found guilty". Opposition parties applied to the Electoral Court, which found in UDM v Tlakula [2014] ZAEC 5 (18 June 2014) that her conduct amounted to misconduct warranting removal; the Constitutional Court refused leave to appeal. She resigned in September 2014, months after chairing the general election. The record sits with the Mkhwebane file as the archive's second compromised Chapter 9 head.