8 March 2025
Allegations of fraud and corruption involving billions of rands have surfaced at PRASA. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Senior officials at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) have allowed two tenders amounting to almost R18-billion, to be awarded to a company, seemingly without the basic bid criteria being met.
A report compiled by a whistleblower alleges PRASA has also fraudulently made advance payments to the company – Maziya General Services – amounting to almost R2.7-billion through five transfers during December 2023 and December 2024.
The allegations are related to two tenders awarded to Maziya General Services. These are for a “global system for mobile communications-railway redundancy network” in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Western Cape (Bid 112), and a “PRASA train control system” in KwaZulu-Natal (Bid 120). The tenders were published in November 2021 and October 2022 respectively. According to the report, the respective tender amounts awarded were R6.3-billion and R11.1-billion.
Publicly accessible records show both tenders were awarded to Maziya, which is owned by Christiaan Delport. But according to bid documents in the whistleblower report, the tenders should have been awarded to joint venture companies CRIG Maziya JV and MACRE JV.
Normally, public documents on awarded tenders show the amount for the contract, but the public documents for these two tenders list the amount as zero. There is no accompanying list of rival bidders that usually accompany the awarded tender document.
The PRASA board will be appointing an independent investigation into the allegations, according to PRASA spokesperson Andiswa Makanda.
“The PRASA Board takes whistleblower allegations seriously and … supports the rights of whistleblowers and ensures adherence to transparency in the organisation,” said Makanda.
According to the whistleblower report, in addition to R2.7-billion to Maziya General Services, a further R259-million was paid to a vendor listed as “Ground Transportation System Maziya”, without a contract. A search of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) records show no such company exists.
An internal PRASA memo provided by the whistleblower, dated 29 August 2023, provides notes on contract negotiations between PRASA and an entity called CRIG MAZIYA JV (Joint Venture), including the payment of 10% of the contract value for “advance mobilisation”. CRIG is an acronym for China Railway International Group. However, it then requests the accompanying contract between PRASA and MACRE JV be signed. The contract description exactly matches that of the tender for a PRASA train control system in KwaZulu-Natal (Bid 120), and is for the same amount, being R11.1-billion.
It includes an internal PRASA memo dated 28 August 2023, also containing notes on contract negotiation for work exactly fitting the description of the tender for a “global system for mobile communications-railway redundancy network” in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Western Cape (Bid 112). The deal, between PRASA and MACRE JV, is for R6.3-billion.
Emails reproduced in the whistleblower report indicate the report was sent to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), but the Hawks did not respond to requests for confirmation, despite follow up calls.
The supplied PRASA vendor form for MACRE JV gives Mike Cassim, who is listed as a business development manager at Maziya, and Maziya telecommunications director Floyd Motumi as the company representatives.
The whistleblower report contains correspondence with PRASA in which Cassim states the members of MACRE JV for Bid 112 are Maziya, China Rail International Group, and China Rail Wuhan Electrification Engineering Group.
The Whistleblower report contains a Bidder Statement of Compliance signed by Cassim, stating MACRE JV “confirm unequivocal compliance with all PRASA Requirements, Conditions of Invitation and Instructions to Bidders” as stipulated in the Request for Proposals. The document is dated 25 April 2022. But MACRE JV was only registered on 16 May 2022.
The tender itself (Bid 112) is listed as closed on 31 March 2022, although the joint venture agreement allegedly supplied by Cassim for the bid, lists the closing date as 29 April 2022. Either way, both dates are prior to the listed registration date of the joint venture companies.
MACRE JV makes one appearance in PRASA’s 2022/23 annual report, where it states: “Considered and recommended for approval by the Board the appointment of Macre JV For GSM-R Redundancy Network Project In PRASA (GP, WC, and KZN regions).” Yet, the awarded tender document matching this project (Bid 112), states this project was awarded to Maziya, not a joint venture company.
In PRASA’s 2023/24 annual report, it provides an update on the R11.1-billion Train Control System in KwaZulu-Natal (Bid 120), stating the contract was awarded and the “validation elements” had been dispatched to the original equipment manufacturer laboratory in Beijing.
Regarding the R6.3-billion global system for mobile communications-railway redundancy network in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Western Cape, the 2023/24 annual report states the project started in December 2023, and the engineering and management team visited the OEM facilities in China to see the manufacturing process and perform FAT tests on the equipment. There is no mention of the joint ventures for multi-billion rand projects, and no mention of Maziya in relation to the two tenders. There is also no indication whether the companies in China are contracted by PRASA, or are suppliers.
The whistleblower report states that contrary to the negotiated contract conditions, no completion certificates, or proof of security was supplied to PRASA prior to receiving the R2.7-billion advance payment.
The report alleges the joint venture partner China Wuhan Electrification Engineering did not have a SARS certificate, was not registered on the National Treasury’s Central Supplier Database, and did not have a South African bank account on the tender closing date. These are mandatory requirements and thus should have disqualified MACRE JV from the bid evaluation process. Additionally, the R2.7-billion in payments were allegedly made to Maziya’s Standard Bank account, and not a joint venture account. Without these elements in place, all payments to the joint venture companies would violate the Public Finance Management Act, National Treasury regulations, and the agreement between PRASA and the joint venture company.
National Treasury failed to respond to GroundUp’s query on whether China Wuhan Electrification Engineering or China Railway International Group were listed on the Central Supplier Database.
Company records show Maziya owner Christiaan Delport as the sole active director for CRIG Maziya JV and MACRE JV.
In January Chris Delport was listed on the Maziya company site as CEO, but his profile has since been removed, giving the impression the Chief Operating Officer Lucky Qotoyi is the most senior executive at the company. Maziya claims on its website it is 50% female and youth-owned, yet Delport is the sole director. Mercedes Delport, who is 30-years-old, was a director, but resigned at the end of August 2023. GroundUp does not know if Chris Delport and Mercedes Delport are related.
Maziya has been involved in questionable government contracts in relation to the installation of oxygen plants at state hospitals. Their chequered past involving state contracts, including being fined R300,000 by the Competition Commission in 2018 for colluding on a City Power tender with a company directed by Delport’s daughter, is explained in this investigation.
Cassim said the company was not commenting on the matter as “it is subjudice”.