Mangaung: SIU Proclamation on Nine Metro-Police Tenders — Corollas, a Fire Truck, Bus Contracts and Supplier Overpayments

Not disclosed (nine contracts; overpayments per 2023/24 AFS)

documented loss

Proclamation 329 of 2026 authorises the SIU to investigate nine Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality contracts dating from October 2016 to July 2026, centred on the establishment of the metro police service — branding, gifts, catering, structural assessments, office upgrades, eight Toyota Corollas, a fire truck, an IPTN contractor panel and IPTN/Hauweng bus contracts — together with supplier overpayments recorded in the 2023/24 financial statements.

The Record The Evidence What Was Lost Implicated Institutions The Paper Trail

The Record

Mangaung, the Free State capital, has been under national intervention since 2022 and is already in the archive as a metro in fiscal collapse. In August 2026 a new front opened: procurement around the establishment and operationalisation of its metro police service.

Proclamation 329 of 2026, gazetted at the end of July and announced on 3–4 August 2026, authorises the Special Investigating Unit to investigate nine contracts concluded between 1 October 2016 and 31 July 2026: branding and marketing items; corporate gifts; catering and decorations; structural assessments of the Civic Theatre, the Gabriel Dichabe building and the Thaba Nchu housing offices; office upgrading and relocation for the metro police; the procurement of eight Toyota Corollas; a fire truck; a contractor panel for Integrated Public Transport Network trunk routes; and the IPTN/Hauweng bus contracts. The proclamation also covers overpayments to suppliers reflected in the municipality's annual financial statements for the year to 30 June 2024.

The SIU will test whether procurement was fair, competitive, transparent and cost-effective and whether officials or suppliers benefited improperly; findings can be referred to the NPA and losses recovered through the Special Tribunal. No contract values were published and no individuals were named. The municipality had not responded at the time of reporting.