The tender-driven empire of politically connected businessman Edwin Sodi is slowly crumbling under the weight of liquidations, a R50m creditor claim and a bid by authorities to blacklist him from lucrative government contracts.

The Sunday Times can reveal that Sodi’s company, NJR Projects, now known as the G5 Group, was liquidated by a creditor in April last year after he failed to settle a R1.2m debt. And just a fortnight ago the high court in Johannesburg ordered Sodi, in his personal capacity, to pay Hollard Insurance a staggering R50m.

On Thursday the City of Tshwane submitted an application to the National Treasury to have Sodi’s companies, Blackhead Consulting and the G5 Group, barred from bidding for government contracts.

A blacklisting will have far-reaching consequences for the tender tycoon. He and his companies will not be able to bid for government contracts for a period of between five and 10 years.

In the last 15 years, various government departments have paid Sodi — who counts Deputy President Paul Mashatile as one of his close friends — and his companies hundreds of millions of rands for controversial projects that he abandoned and left incomplete. Among them are:

a R291m contract to repair the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant in Hammanskraal; a R255m project to remove asbestos from homes in the Free State; and a R282m contract to upgrade a prison in Parys.

Despite his woes, Sodi still owns a significant number of assets, in particular a substantial property portfolio. The Sunday Times has established that between 2015 and 2023, Sodi, through his MJS Family Trust, bought high-end properties worth at least R148m. These include:

31 apartments worth R45m at Harbour Arch and Stonehill Place in the Cape Town city centre; and a R48m palatial mansion in Fresnaye on the Atlantic Seaboard. An apartment owned by Edwin Sodi at 18 Arcadia Rd, Fresnaye. (Picture: Ruvan Boshoff) (ruvan boschoff)

NJR Projects was liquidated by Case Hire North West, a plant-hire company that Sodi’s company had leased heavy-duty construction vehicles from. It is not immediately clear which project the equipment was for.

Case Hire launched a civil claim against NJR Projects in the Pretoria high court in August 2020. “On/about 8 February 2018 and at Pretoria, the defendant, duly represented by NJ Ramahlaleroa in his capacity as director of the defendant, completed, accepted and submitted to the plaintiff an agreement in respect to lease from the plaintiff construction equipment and/or machinery,” said Case Hire’s particulars of claim.

The company said “the defendant on a continuous basis up to June 8 2020 leased from the plaintiff operators, machinery and/or equipment as ordered by the defendant on an order form from time to time,” said Case Hire, adding that NJR Projects stopped paying on June 8.

Sodi did not oppose the matter, and the court granted Case Hire a default judgment in July 2021. NJR failed to settle the R1.2m claim, and in October 2024, Case Hire filed an application to have Sodi’s company liquidated.

The liquidation application shows that NJR Projects paid Case Hire R200,000 in two tranches of R100,000, and promised to pay the remainder but failed to do so.

“Based on the controversial history and media reports of the respondent in relation to failed payment obligations and/or failed governmental and/or municipal contracts pertaining to construction and/or upgrading projects involving the respondent and its controlling individual, former director and shareholder Mr Pheane Edwin Sodi, it will also be just and equitable to wind up the respondent and allow for insolvency inquiries to take place in respect of the finances and/or possible liabilities of the respondent’s directors, both past and present,” said Case Hire in its liquidation application.

1 Harbour Arch, on Cape Town’s Foreshore, where Edwin Sodi owns several apartments. (Picture: Ruvan Boshoff) (ruvan boschoff)

NJR Projects did not oppose Case Hire’s liquidation application, which the courts granted in April last year.

Two weeks ago, judge Nelisa Phiwokazi Mali ruled in the Johannesburg high court that Sodi, in his individual capacity, should pay Hollard Insurance R39m — with interest the figure rises to R50m — in connection with the failed project to upgrade the 65-bed Parys prison into a 240-bed facility.

In March 2019 the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) awarded NJR Projects a R282m contract to extend and add more beds to the Parys prison. It gave NJR projects an advance payment of R23m, which was guaranteed by Hollard Insurance.

The insurance company also issued the DBSA with a R28m performance guarantee on behalf of NJR Projects. This is a financial commitment, usually from a bank or insurance company, that the contractor will perform according to its contractual obligations.

The DBSA terminated the contract with NJR Projects in February 2023, citing poor performance, and demanded Hollard honour the performance guarantee.

In early October 2022, NJR Projects stopped repaying the DBSA the advance payment. The bank issued a default notice to NJR Projects, and a few days later it served Hollard Insurance with a letter of demand. At the time, NJR Projects owed the bank a balance of R11.5m on the advance payment.

Hollard declined to pay, arguing that the demand was premature and procedurally defective, prompting the DBSA to go to court, which ruled in favour of the bank and ordered Hollard to pay up.

However, court papers reveal that Hollard launched its own application to recover both the R28m performance guarantee and the R11.5m balance of the advance payment guarantee from NJR Projects.

While Hollard and its legal team are still studying the judgment, Hollard is compelled to exercise appropriate discretion and restraint from public communication to allow the legal process to run its course

—  Ntokozo Ndlovu, Hollard Insurance spokesperson

Since NJR Projects is in liquidation, Mali ordered Sodi, who in his personal capacity had signed deeds of indemnity and of suretyship for both the advance payment and the performance guarantee, to personally pay Hollard R39.8m. With interest, the figure is R50m.

Sodi did not respond to requests for comment sent via WhatsApp. Hollard Insurance spokesperson Ntokozo Ndlovu said: “While Hollard and its legal team are still studying the judgment, Hollard is compelled to exercise appropriate discretion and restraint from public communication to allow the legal process to run its course.”

The DBSA did not respond to questions sent via e-mail on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the City of Tshwane announced it had finally filed an application with the National Treasury to have Blackhead Consulting, the G5 Group and Sodi, in his private capacity as a director of both companies, barred from bidding for government contracts.

Last week the Sunday Times reported that almost three years after launching a process to blacklist Blackhead Consulting and NJR Projects, the municipality had still not served Sodi with letters informing him of the decision because officials claimed they couldn’t find him at his addresses.

The municipality wants to ban Blackhead Consulting, NJR Projects and CMS Water Engineering from doing business with the government for their failure to complete the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant upgrades. In October 2019 officials awarded the three companies a R291m contract to repair the plant. The companies failed to deliver, prompting the municipality to terminate the tender.

Between May and July 2023 dozens of people died in Tshwane as a result of a cholera outbreak attributed to the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant.

“With the submission now lodged, the city has fulfilled its role in the restriction process,” the city said in a press statement on Thursday. “The assessment, determination and implementation of any restriction measures now rest with the National Treasury, which exercises the authority to make a final decision.”

Sodi is among 18 accused, along with former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, due to stand trial in March over the asbestos case.