Former MP Pule Mabe among seven arrested in connection with ...

The tuk-tuks, or karikis, were intended for 58 waste pickers in the Ekurhuleni municipality but they were not delivered.

It was also discovered the service provider later issued a letter of demand to the department for a further payment of more than R9m for safekeeping, storage and ancillary services for the fleet.

“The company also failed to disclose, in its bid proposal, its affiliation to [Mabe] and misrepresented to the department that it had supplied the fleet as well as fleet-related services,” said Mbambo. 

A case was registered at the Johannesburg Central police station in October 2020, prompting the Hawks investigation.

The Financial Mail reported in 2021 that Mabe created Enviro-Mobi, but later quit as a director and left it to his cousin to run, even though he apparently kept the intellectual property rights.