Relatives and employees of alleged gang boss, Ralph Stanfield, say their arrest by the Hawks has stopped them from obtaining government tenders.
This claim was made at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Friday as Ralph’s brother, Kyle, appeared alongside his mother-in-law, Barbara Johnson, and employees Suraya Manual and Nondabula Phakamisa on defeating the ends of justice charges.
Kyle was busted in April when cops swooped on a flat in Claremont and found him in possession of R4.6 million in cash.
A week later Barbara was busted when cops raided her home in Mitchells Plain and confiscated various electronics including cellphones, hard drives and computers allegedly linked to Glomix CC, a construction company owned by her daughter, and Ralph’s wife, Nicole.
Court documents later revealed that Kyle had allegedly received instructions from Ralph, who is being held in Brandvlei Prison, to remove items cops had planned to seize in a raid.
The document states that on 19 April, Kyle went to the premises of PPE security in the Airport Industria area after receiving information from Ralph of a planned search and seizure at the property and was allegedly instructed to remove electronic devices and documents.
It was later revealed that Manual had worked as a freelance accountant for the notorious couple while Phakamisa is employed as a quantity surveyor for Glomix CC.
The group were subsequently released on R10 000 bail and returned to court on Friday where their defence lawyer, Advocate Bruce Hendricks, called on the state to finalise their investigation, saying his clients were facing financial losses.
Addressing the court, the state prosecutor explained detectives were still analysing the cellphones confiscated in the raids.
Hendricks claimed cops had three months and called on them to urgently finalise their investigations.
“The accused are suffering prejudices as they cannot continue their business [as a result of the pending case]. They are suffering financially. It is a simple charge of defeating the ends of justice,” he said.
Evidence in the possession of Daily Voice shows that Glomix CC was blacklisted by the National Treasury months before the arrests.
This followed an investigation by City of Cape Town manager, Lungelo Mbandanzayo into ongoing extortion by gangs led to the municipality blacklisting 12 companies affiliated to Nicole and Ralph.