Hearing record
Day 96
Day 96, 23 April 2026. Attention turned to TMPD Major Lebogang Andrew Phiri of the Roads Policing Division, who oversaw the contested Tshwane metro police ad hoc security-services tender and faced questions about payments he received from companies and individuals linked to a firm he is accused of favouring.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Major Lebogang Phiri, a TMPD officer in the Roads Policing Division, testified about his oversight of the controversial Tshwane metro police ad hoc security-services tender.
- Evidence before the commission indicated that Phiri received multiple payments from companies and individuals connected to a security company he is accused of favouring in the distribution of work in the capital.
- IOL reported that the alleged financial misconduct was linked in evidence to a company identified as Gubis 85 Solutions.
- Phiri's testimony revealed instances where funds moved between him and security companies doing business with the City of Tshwane, which the commission examined as a potential conflict of interest.
- The ad hoc security services tender has been scrutinised throughout this phase for alleged irregularities, situating Phiri within the same TMPD procurement story as Mnisi and Dhlamini.
- The commission's questioning focused on whether the payments compromised Phiri's handling of the tender; the allegations are untested and Phiri is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
- Phiri's evidence added a street-level, operational layer to a procurement narrative that the commission has otherwise built largely through senior officials and documents.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
Overseeing the ad hoc tender
Phiri testified that he oversaw the TMPD ad hoc security-services tender, a procurement repeatedly flagged in this phase for alleged irregularities. That oversight role placed him at the operational centre of how work was allocated to security firms. The commission probed how decisions on that tender were made and recorded.
Payments under scrutiny
IOL reported that Phiri received multiple payments from companies and individuals with links to a security company he is accused of favouring, with the alleged misconduct connected in evidence to Gubis 85 Solutions. His testimony revealed instances where funds were exchanged with companies doing City of Tshwane business. The commission examined whether those flows amounted to a conflict of interest.
Part of a larger TMPD picture
Phiri's evidence dovetailed with the wider inquiry into the Tshwane metro police security procurement that also drew in the suspended CFO and the suspended deputy chief. Coverage from the Midday Report and IOL framed his appearance as filling in the operational detail of how the tender was run. The allegations against him remain untested.
Our analysis
The bottom line
The Phiri evidence is where the commission's paper trail meets an operational decision-maker, and that makes the money flows the pivotal question. Payments from firms doing city business to the officer overseeing their tender are, on their face, a conflict worth explaining; but a payment is not yet a bribe, and the innocent explanations - loans, unrelated dealings, legitimate transactions - have to be tested rather than assumed away.
What gives this day weight is corroboration of type: Phiri's alleged conduct rhymes with the pattern the commission has been building around the TMPD tender, in which several officials are said to have had improper contact with interested firms. Convergent detail of that kind is more persuasive than any isolated allegation, yet it still stops short of a finding, and the specific link to Gubis 85 Solutions is an allegation the commission must substantiate.
For the reader, the honest bottom line is that Day 96 sharpens rather than settles the TMPD tender story. Phiri has questions to answer about why money moved and whether it touched his official role; until those answers are tested against the documents, the fair position is that a serious conflict-of-interest allegation has been aired, not proven.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)
- Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC
- Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC
Sources
- IOL - Madlanga Commission investigates Inspector Phiri's alleged misconduct in TMPD security tender (23 Apr 2026) ↗
- IOL - Major Phiri's financial misconduct: Allegations linked to Gubis 85 Solutions (24 Apr 2026) ↗
- The Midday Report (Omny) - Madlanga Commission hears testimony from Inspector Lebogang Phiri (Apr 2026) ↗