News24 | Ramaphosa unleashes SIU on North West contracts linked to Suliman Carrim

Businessman Suliman Carrim testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on 10 March in Pretoria.

Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu

• President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a new proclamation and an amendment that empower the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate allegations of serious maladministration, corruption, and irregular expenditure at the North West Transport Investment Limited.
• In a separate move, the president amended an existing proclamation to widen the SIU’s probe into eThekwini’s security and VIP protection contracts.
• The SIU is mandated to recover any financial losses incurred by the state or these institutions as a result of corruption or maladministration.
• For more politics news, visit News24 Politics.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe millions of rands in contracts linked to North West businessman Suliman Carrim.

At the centre of the investigation is a R168 million commuter transport tender awarded by the North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management to a joint venture between Carrim’s Ziggy Investments and Transnat Coach Lines.

The proclamation, announced by SIU spokesperson Selby Makgotho in a statement on Monday, directs the unit to investigate the affairs of the North West Transport Investments (SOC) Limited (NTI).

Said Makgotho: “The president has directed the SIU to investigate the affairs of the NTI, its wholly owned subsidiary, North West Star [SOC] Limited [NSL], and the Atteridgeville Bus Service [SOC] Limited [ABS], which is also a wholly owned subsidiary of NSL.”

The SIU will investigate procurement and contracting processes related to:

• Fuel supplied by Zentrafor Fuel (Pty) Limited, trading as FuelU.
• Vehicle rental services provided under a vehicle rental agreement dated 28 July 2023.
• Commuter bus services outlined in a sub-contractor agreement dated 7 July 2023, by or on behalf of the NTI, as well as payments made for these services.

Makgotho said the SIU had also been authorised to investigate significant maladministration in the NTI’s operations regarding the receipt, processing, approval, and payment of claims submitted by Tansanat Coachlines (Pty) Limited, Ziggy Investments CC, and the Tansanat Coachlines (Pty) Limited Ziggy Investments CC Joint Venture.

“The SIU will examine whether these operations breached applicable legislation and guidelines issued by the National Treasury or the relevant provincial treasury.”

He added that the investigation would also examine the actions of the Business Rescue Practitioner appointed on 21 July 2022, their agents, or NTI employees, specifically whether any individuals or entities received undue benefits, and whether this resulted in serious maladministration that caused actual or potential losses to the NTI or the state.

READ | Chaskalson seeks independent examination of ‘unwell’ Carrim, and mulls prosecution

In June, News24 reported that a forensic investigation report implicated Carrim’s company, Ziggy Investments CC, in a multimillion-rand tender scandal at the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West.

The report exposed a scheme in which inflated mileage claims drained R6.73 million from a drought-relief water and sanitation contract while municipality officials failed to exercise oversight.

The report, compiled by forensic investigators Maine-Mokhetle Inc. and commissioned following material irregularities flagged by the Auditor-General (AG), showed how Ziggy Investments overclaimed kilometres between July 2018 and December 2020.

But Ziggy Investments vehemently denied the allegations and disputed the forensic investigation’s methodology, arguing that the report relied on flawed Google Maps calculations rather than on-the-ground verification.

The company was appointed to provide truck-hire services to deliver drought-relief water and sanitation. It billed the municipality for distances its trucks never travelled.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a new proclamation and an amendment that empower the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate allegations of serious maladministration, corruption, and irregular expenditure at the North West Transport Investments (SOC) Limited (NTI)…

— Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (@RSASIU) September 14, 2026

A combined summons filed in the North West High Court in Mahikeng in July 2025 confirmed that Carrim represented Ziggy Investments when the municipality received the offer.

The court documents listed Ziggy’s principal place of business as 14 Main Street, Mahikeng. Carrim is the sole member of Ziggy Investments CC.

Ziggy Investments delivered water and sanitation services using its fleet of trucks at agreed per-kilometre rates: R16.80 per kilometre for 14/16-kilolitre trucks and R18.50 per kilometre for 18/20-kilolitre vehicles.

The company was required to invoice for kilometres travelled. Investigators found that the invoices exceeded distances that could not be verified with GPS coordinates or Google Maps route calculations.

Ziggy Investments disputed the accuracy of the Google Maps methodology.

In a response to News24 questions through its attorneys, Zisiwe Attorneys Inc, the company argued that water delivery in and around surrounding villages was more intricate than calculating kilometres on Google Maps.

The forensic team calculated the overpayments: R2.84 million was overclaimed between July 2018 and June 2019; R2.37 million was overclaimed between July 2019 and June 2020; and R1.51 million was overclaimed during the contract extension between July and December 2020. The financial loss totalled R6 730 428.60.

In a separate move, Ramaphosa amended Proclamation 226 of 2024, which originally authorised the SIU to investigate the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality’s procurement of security and VIP protection services.

READ | Suliman Carrim’s company implicated in R6.7m North West tender scandal

Makgotho said the eThekwini investigation would determine whether the procurement process was transparent, equitable, and cost-effective and whether irregular expenditure was incurred.

The SIU will refer any evidence of criminal conduct uncovered during either investigation to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action.

“The SIU is also authorised under the SIU Act to initiate a civil action in the High Court or a Special Tribunal in its name to address any wrongdoing identified during its investigation resulting from acts of corruption, fraud, or maladministration,” Makgotho said.