Nearly three years after moving to blacklist controversial tenderpreneur Edwin Sodi, the City of Tshwane has failed to even deliver the notice barring his company from state work — citing the extraordinary excuse that it cannot find his address.

However, it took the Sunday Times just one WhatsApp message to find Sodi, who said: “Write whatever you want to write.”

The leader of the DA opposition in Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, accused members of the metro administration — run by a coalition that includes the ANC and ActionSA — of deliberately trying to sabotage the blacklisting of Sodi.

The self-declared ANC benefactor’s companies Blackhead Consulting and the G-5 Group (previously known as NJR Projects) have benefited from government contracts worth hundreds of millions of rand. Politicians with whom he has close ties include Deputy President Paul Mashatile.

In June 2023, the City of Tshwane announced that it had initiated a process to blacklist Blackhead Consulting and NJR Projects after the entities, in a joint venture with CMS Water, botched a R291m project to refurbish the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria. The companies had failed to perform on the contract, which was awarded in 2019 and terminated by the council three years later.

The failure to fix the wastewater plant led to a cholera outbreak in mid-2023 in which nearly 30 people in the Pretoria area died.

Multiple attempts were made on separate occasions to serve notice on the affected companies and their directors through prescribed channels, including address confirmation via the central supplier database and other lawful mechanisms. These efforts were complicated by the entities being untraceable at their registered locations

—  Sam Mgobozi, Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya’s spokesperson

The National Treasury’s procurement regulations allow government departments, state-owned entities and municipalities to blacklist companies and bar them from doing business with the state for up to 10 years. Companies can be blacklisted for various forms of misconduct, including:

poor performance;bribery;corruption; bid-rigging; fronting;collusion; lying about their broad-based BEE status; and presenting fraudulent tax clearance certificates.

The Treasury controls the blacklisting process and maintains a list of all those affected.

However, almost three years after the Tshwane authorities pledged to blacklist Sodi and his partners, they have yet to do so, citing an inability to establish the companies’ addresses. Sodi is often seen in his nightclub, LIV Sandton, a high-profile spot frequented by celebrities.

A report by the metro’s supply chain management division, dated September 2025, reveals that attempts to serve Sodi and his partners with letters informing them of their blacklisting came to nought because the city couldn’t find their addresses.

“The restriction process restarted, following engagements with National Treasury. Intention letters for the joint venture and respective partners [were] dispatched to affected contractors … The city, however, could not deliver the said letters, first through physical delivery by the TMPD [Tshwane metro police department] and then by way of registered mail through Postnet.”

The Treasury offered to help by checking if it had had any recent communication with the companies related to state contracts.

“All these failed and legal advice was sought on the way forward, which [was] that the city may proceed with the matter in the absence of the affected contractors,” said the report, adding that the municipality’s group audit & risk section had been mandated to preside over the process and see it through to a conclusion.

Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya’s spokesperson Sam Mgobozi said the city had requested the Treasury to blacklist Sodi in 2024 but Treasury officials rejected the application due to “procedural shortcomings”.

“In response to this feedback, the city deliberately paused further submissions in order to strengthen its governance framework and ensure that any resubmission would be procedurally sound, legally defensible and capable of withstanding scrutiny. This was not a reversal of intent but a corrective step taken directly in response to National Treasury’s requirements,” Mgobozi said.

As a result, the city had since adopted a formal standard operating procedure for supplier restriction and blacklisting, established a supplier review committee with approved terms of reference and embedded additional safeguards to comply with regulatory requirements, he said.

He acknowledged that the city had struggled to serve Sodi and his partners with blacklisting notices. “Multiple attempts were made on separate occasions to serve notice on the affected companies and their directors through prescribed channels, including address confirmation via the central supplier database and other lawful mechanisms. These efforts were complicated by the entities being untraceable at their registered locations.”

A dispute later arose between the municipality and the National Treasury over whether officials had followed proper procedures when issuing letters of intent to blacklist Sodi and other members of the joint venture.

“To resolve this, the city sought an independent legal opinion to clarify the legal definition of service and the standard required where entities cannot be located. The legal opinion confirmed that, given the demonstrable steps taken, the city had done everything reasonably and lawfully possible to effect notice and had complied with its approved standard operating procedure,” said Mgobozi.

Edwin Sodi is one of the ANC’s biggest benefactors and clients, and it is clear to me that under their arrangement with ActionSA in Tshwane they have done everything possible to prevent a blacklisting application from being submitted to National Treasury

—  Cilliers Brink, DA leader in Tshwane

He said the municipality had now concluded all the formal procedures necessary for the Treasury to entertain a blacklisting application. “The matter is now being processed for formal submission to National Treasury by the CFO, following signature by the city manager. This submission will be lodged without delay, and the city will formally communicate once this has occurred. Thereafter, the assessment and implementation of any restriction measures rests with National Treasury in accordance with its statutory mandate.”

Brink, a former mayor of Tshwane, told the Sunday Times: “Edwin Sodi is one of the ANC’s biggest benefactors and clients, and it is clear to me that under their arrangement with ActionSA in Tshwane they have done everything possible to prevent a blacklisting application from being submitted to National Treasury.

“If they cannot prevent it, they hope that the delay in making the submission will prejudice the case against Sodi. In May 2025 I received written assurance from the city that the procedural errors identified by National Treasury in the blacklisting application had been fixed and that the submission would be done at National Treasury soon,” Brink said.

But in September last year, he said, the city told a parliamentary committee that no submission had yet been made, because the city’s internal auditors had to vet the application.

Sodi and his partners are not the only ones that Tshwane wants to blacklist — city authorities have set their sights on seven other companies. Among them is the Ntshadi consortium, which the municipality wants to sanction for a failed R138m contract to refurbish the city hall building.

According to the supply chain management report, the project was marked by allegations of financial misconduct and procurement irregularities. The FF+ said in March last year the project began in 2015 but was never completed. Officials wrote off the R63m already spent.

Ntshadi Ntuli, director of Ntshadi Holdings, did not respond to questions and ignored messages sent to her via WhatsApp.

Tshwane has also launched a process to blacklist construction company Mologadi A Nape Business Enterprise for alleged poor performance and failure to meet project timelines in a contract to refurbish the Refilwe and Caledonian stadiums.

Official records show that while the Refilwe project is 95% complete, very little progress has been made at the Caledonian Stadium.

The company’s general manager, Kamogelo Baloyi, said the city had yet to decide if it would finalise the blacklisting. He denied the accusations that Mologadi A Nape had failed to perform, saying both projects were subject to ongoing contractual and legal disputes, including arbitration and associated enforcement proceedings.