By Michelle Ndaga
Police have raided 26 properties in Cape Town as part of a sweeping investigation into alleged irregularities in housing and construction tenders valued at R1.6 billion.
The raids, conducted on October 1, 2025, follow a whistleblower’s tip-off and target suspected favoritism, inflated pricing, and kickbacks in the awarding of contracts.
While three unnamed City of Cape Town officials have been implicated, authorities confirmed that no arrests have yet been made.
The probe adds to growing scrutiny of the city’s housing sector, which is already under pressure from a backlog of more than 300,000 applicants.
It also follows a high-profile raid in January 2025 on the offices of senior Democratic Alliance (DA) officials JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg over a separate R1 billion housing scandal.
Investigators have not disclosed whether the two cases are directly linked but stressed that corruption in the allocation of housing tenders remains a priority for law enforcement.
Authorities say further action will depend on evidence analysis from the latest raids, which involved financial records, electronic devices, and tender documents seized across the 26 sites.
