Jeff Wicks, Sikonathi Mantshantsha and Kyle Cowan – News24 Investigations
Three days after reporting irregularities in a R1.8-billion chemical toilets tender, Ekurhuleni auditor Mpho Mafole was dead - assassinated by hitmen who had stalked him for hours.
In a months-long investigation, News24 has uncovered what was his final probe. Mafole had been engaged in a probity audit of the mammoth tender, a perfunctory exercise that paved the way for the deal to be awarded.
The irregularities Mafole flagged were sanitised and whitewashed by his superiors, who inexplicably amended his report.
Through exclusive documents, digital forensics, and innovative storytelling, News24 exposed how those who dare challenge state capture pay with their lives.
Court dismisses latest bid to gag News24 over reporting on murdered Ekurhuleni auditor
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed an application by Theuwedi Trading Enterprise and its director, Nakampe Aubrey Moliwa, to prevent News24 from reporting on the murder of Ekurhuleni senior forensic auditor Mpho Mafole.
Second court bid to gag News24 investigative journalists over Ekurhuleni tenders
A company that has received more than R100 million as part of the controversial R1.8 billion chemical toilets tender in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has launched an urgent court bid against News24 and its journalists in their personal capacities.
Ekurhuleni millions: Questionable operations of shadowy company involved in toilet scandal
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has paid more than R100 million to a shadowy Limpopo company for successive chemical toilets contracts – the last of which was probed by slain auditor Mpho Mafole.
Ekurhuleni mayor’s High Court bid to gag News24 thrown out
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has thrown out Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s urgent bid to gag News24 after a series of stories revealing his links to the alleged hitman responsible for chief city auditor Mpho Mafole’s murder.
‘Modest’ Ekurhuleni mayor seeking to intimidate journalists, court hears
An urgent court bid by Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza seeking to interdict News24 from publishing articles about him – and seeking a costs order against the journalists investigating him – was slammed in court as an intimidation tactic on Wednesday.
IN COURT TODAY | Ekurhuleni mayor targets News24 journalist probing Mpho Mafole’s death
Bedevilled Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s bid to gag News24 after a series of reports into the death of auditor Mpho Mafole will play out before the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
‘Killer’ Ximba’s wife scored in R1.8bn toilet tender probed by slain auditor Mpho Mafole
The wife of former Ekurhuleni mayoral advisor Nkosana “Killer” Ximba clinched a stake in the R1.8 billion chemical toilets tender probed by slain auditor Mpho Mafole.
Embattled Ekurhuleni mayor wants High Court to gag News24 over murder reports
Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, the embattled mayor of Ekurhuleni, has launched an urgent bid in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to gag News24 after a series of reports about the murder of forensic auditor Mpho Mafole.
Rigour and persistence: How we investigated Mpho Mafole’s murder – and the mayor’s role
When the chief auditor of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Mpho Mafole, was killed only three months into the job, it was immediately apparent to my colleagues and me that this was a significant story. We were determined to find out why he had been killed.
Ekurhuleni mayor placed at scene almost two years after DJ Bongani Mfihlo’s murder
Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, the mayor of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, was at the scene and had spent the night in the company of Bongani Mfihlo when the disc jockey was killed in a hail of bullets at a Kempton Park nightclub in the early hours of 2 September 2023.
How Ekurhuleni mayor tried to divert scrutiny from Mpho Mafole’s murder
Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza may have interfered with and sought to divert the police investigation into the murder of chief auditor Mpho Mafole away from the municipality’s award of the mobile chemical toilets tender, which was the biggest money spinner for tenderpreneurs associated with councillors.
Tracked, traced and eliminated: This is how Mpho Mafole was murdered
Mpho Mafole was an Ekurhuleni auditor who flagged irregularities in a R1.8-billion chemical toilets tender in the days before his murder on 30 June 2025. This visual investigation sets out how Mafole was tracked and eliminated.
WATCH
‘No issues’: How Mafole audit report was whitewashed
The Ekurhuleni Municipality’s chief audit executive, Phillip Rakgwale, appears to have altered and sanitised the scathing findings of Mpho Mafole’s audit report pointing out irregularities and raising questions about the procurement system followed with regard to a mobile chemical toilets contract.
LISTEN
Inside slain Ekurhuleni metro auditor Mpho Mafole’s final R1.8bn toilet graft probe
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s chief auditor, Mpho Mafole, was murdered three days after submitting a scathing report related to a R1.8-billion chemical toilets tender.
PODCAST | The Lead: Shades of Babita - another auditor, another hit and more tender billions
It may mean “place of peace”, but the City of Ekurhuleni has been on edge this year following the murder of its chief auditor, Mpho Mafole. The soon-to-be married financial investigator was shot and killed not far from his Kempton Park home in late June.
Slain Ekurhuleni auditors probed R4bn toilet, waste contracts; third one wounded
Mpho Mafole was auditing two massive contracts - toilets and waste, and vending contracts - worth about R4 billion when he was killed outside Kempton Park on 30 June this year. He was the second auditor working for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to be murdered within two years. A third auditor survived an attempted hit.
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Journalist: Jeff Wicks, Sikonathi Mantshantsha and Kyle Cowan
Design: Sharlene Rood
News24 Production Editor: Hanlie Gouws
Image credits: Google Earth; Supplied/News24; Rodger Bosch/AFP; Facebook/Mpho Kabasia Mafole; Rosetta Msimango/News24; snl24.com/dailysun; Supplied/City Press; OJ Koloti/Gallo Images; Icons8/Ouch! Illustrations/Canva; MortonPhotographic/Getty Images; David Zaitz/Getty Images; xoxostd/Canva.
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