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JP Smith raid – real victims may be key investigations into 28s gangsters, R8bn contracts and collusion

JP Smith raid – real victims may be key investigations into 28s gangsters, R8bn contracts and collusion
Ralph Stanfield (foreground) at the Cape Town Regional Court on 16 September 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
5 Feb 2025
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DA City of Cape Town councillor JP Smith insists he is the target of ‘what could have been the largest, planned smear campaign of this decade’. His claims aside, the broader situation around this saga may cause cracks in critical police investigations.

While DA City of Cape Town councillor JP Smith insists crafty character assassins are targeting him and that this resulted in a recent raid on his office, the indisputable victims in this developing saga may be critical police investigations into gangsterism and collusion.

If investigations are jeopardised because of the raid on Smith’s office and issues attached to that, it means certain criminal probes and cases could even collapse, paving the way for suspects to walk free.

This will be detrimental to residents trying to combat – and survive – crime in the city, where there have been ongoing suspicions of cops colluding with gangsters, and in certain instances, of gangsters colluding with politicians.

Already, it seems that a combination of politics and policing is affecting investigations.

Criminal case context


Police raided Smith’s office, and that of mayoral committee member Xanthea Limberg, on 24 January 2025.

Smith claims he is the target of a smear campaign possibly involving, among others, past or present South African Police Service (SAPS) officers.



Limberg said she was caught up in the mess because of her proximity to Smith.

She heads the City of Cape Town’s energy portfolio while Smith leads safety and security.

They have not been suspended, apparently because there is not enough evidence against them.

The raid on their offices is connected to an investigation into tenders involving around R1-billion. The suspects include the City of Cape Town’s former human settlements mayoral committee member Malusi Booi.

booi City of Cape Town’s former human settlements mayoral committee member Malusi Booi. (Photo: Gallo Images / Misha Jordaan)



Read more: City of Collusion — the gang suspects and ex-officials accused of crafting Cape Town’s real ‘construction mafia’

Booi’s City of Cape Town office was raided in March 2023 and he was arrested more than a year later, in September 2024.

He faces accusations that he allegedly accepted gratifications from suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and in exchange, used his influence over tenders.



The Stanfield case and the Booi case, which both involved several accused and various criminal charges, overlapped.

Ralph Stanfield Ralph Stanfield (foreground) at the Cape Town Regional Court on 16 September 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)



They have since been merged in a mega case set to resume in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court next month.

Some charges that emanated from the Stanfield side of the matter involve murder. One of Booi’s co-accused was killed two days after being granted bail last year.

This underlines the dangers associated with the case.

Smith and Stanfield 


Meanwhile, in matters relating to Smith, an interview with him and anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee was aired on eNCA on Tuesday, 4 February.

It was billed as “exclusive” and of Smith breaking his “silence”.

Smith, however, did not deviate too far from what he had ventilated in a statement following the raid, and Abramjee did not seem to present any new information on the saga or ask Smith questions going much further than what had already been reported.

A few key issues surfaced, though.

Smith maintained the raid on his office was politically motivated and intended “to engage in trial by media”.

He said that he had previously assisted City of Cape Town staff members, who feared being murdered if they spoke out, in getting information to the police in the Booi case.

Smith had seen the search warrant used for the raid on his office, which Abramjee said appeared to have been granted because police suspected Smith may have received money from Stanfield – roughly what Booi was accused of.

Smith countered that he had no relationship with Stanfield and that it was his mission, and that of his directorate, “to destroy” gangs.

R8bn, Prasa and ‘the black book’


Smith said the city manager (presumably Lungelo Mbandazayo) had managed to block 27 companies, allegedly linked to Stanfield, from contracts totalling R8-billion.

Read more: Security boost for Cape Town city manager after blacklisting of company owned by 28s gang case-accused

Abramjee referred to a “black book” that police claimed existed and which mentioned “JP” and payments that happened between 2018 and 2022.

Smith said he had not seen the book, of which rumours had done the rounds since early 2024.

He also pointed out that there were 96 staffers in the City of Cape Town referred to as “JP”.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) also cropped up.

Smith said: “The warrant alleges that I was supposed to speak to the mayor [Geordin Hill-Lewis] about Prasa. 

“Now as the Prasa tender name suggests, it’s a Prasa tender, it’s not a city tender, as the mayor said to me, we’ve got nothing to do even with this tender.”

Read more: Scopa grills City of Cape Town on relocation of Prasa’s Central Line occupiers

The city had been involved in relocation plans for residents who had occupied parts of the Central Line, a rail connection between working-class suburbs and the central business district. 

In the Abramjee interview, Smith maintained he had not been involved in Prasa matters.

City vs SAPS


There has been recurring friction between the city and the SAPS, mainly because the DA runs the city while the national police are widely regarded as an ANC remit.

This, in effect, means Smith has come up against police bosses in the past.

He has also worked with former SAPS officers who joined the city.

In 2023, Smith succinctly outlined overall government hierarchy and how the city wanted more control of national entities.



“In Cape Town, we are saying we can manage and control the local police better than what national government can do,” he said then.

“Devolution. Hand over the management of SAPS. Hand over Prasa so we can get our trains working again.”

As for the SAPS, it is deeply divided in the Western Cape, which includes Cape Town, and there are accusations that a rogue unit linked to Crime Intelligence has been active.

Read more: Smear campaign or justice? Behind the police raid on DA’s Xanthea Limberg and JP Smith

Daily Maverick has also reported on how policing units are wary of one another because of concerns that some officers could be aligned with certain suspects.

If a police officer sides with a suspect, that officer can leak information to the suspect and derail an investigation.

This is the milieu in which the Smith and Limberg raid happened.

Cops and politicians


In the interview with Abramjee on Tuesday, Smith elaborated on his feelings about the SAPS.

He said he respected that the police had the right to do their work.

“I have refused interviews with other journalists because I don’t want to interfere with the inquiry that SAPS is doing,” Smith told Abramjee.

“But also… I can’t be constantly silent and other political commentators and opponents are speculating and defaming me and saying the most insane stuff daily and spreading misinformation.”

He said six weeks before the raid, which he says he read about on social media before it happened, his lawyer had told SAPS that Smith would cooperate with them.

Smith said: “I want to make it clear that I’m not willing to believe that the police officials involved in this investigation are bad people.

“They are career officers; they have long careers behind them and I’m sure their reputations matter as much to them as mine does to me.

“But I’m also somewhat confident that they’re probably being put under a fair amount of political pressure by some more politicised senior management within the SAPS management.”

Publicity, politicking and policing 


While Smith has spoken out at length about the January raid on his office, the SAPS has officially provided a few basic details to the media.

Preceding the raid, there does not seem to have been any overt reporting relating to Smith that suggested an attempt to tarnish his character.

This has sparked unofficial questions in certain quarters about whether Smith is peddling the idea of a smear campaign, which would possibly even include the Abramjee interview aired nationally, to cover up criminality.

That would, in effect, suggest that Smith is the one involved in a masterful smear campaign against, among others, figures linked to the SAPS and who he says are targeting him.



Without any substance to back it up, that remains a theory.

Smith also appears to understand that his smear campaign claims need to be further backed up.

During his interview with Abramjee on Tuesday, he effectively conceded that it would take more than his word to show he had not been involved in anything dodgy.

“I can’t clear my name on my own, only SAPS can do that. All I can do is give them one hundred percent compliance and work with them and hope that when all the information is placed before them, that they can see what’s going on,” Smith said.

“That they can detect the true intentions of what was going on here and prosecute those people who are responsible for causing this harm to this current investigation that they’re already with.”

Affected investigations


This is where opinions, from different quarters, converge.

Those take the form of fears that the overall Stanfield and Booi investigation, and the developing court case, could be negatively affected.

The raid on Smith and Limberg clearly appears to be linked to suspicions concerning Stanfield.

Indicating what SAPS bosses may think of the Stanfield investigation is that a team of officers driving that probe were announced as winners during recent Western Cape police awards.

They won in the category of detective team of the year.

However, there are now concerns that all the political drama surrounding the Smith and Limberg raid may somehow be used to weaken the State’s case against Stanfield and co.

Read more: ‘Political hit squads’ and spying — repeat accusations point to dirty tricks gouging into Cape Town’s security

During his Tuesday interview, Smith said it had recently been reported that the case was “at risk of being withdrawn” because SAPS “are not spending adequate resources on dealing with the forensic investigations, searching the bank accounts etc”.

News24 had reported that investigators needed more time to analyse bank account and cellphone records, but that the defence was dissatisfied with delays.

This could result in an inquiry into unreasonable delays in the Stanfield and Booi case which is expected to resume on 20 March.



Smith, meanwhile, took to his Facebook page on Tuesday to promote his interview with Abramjee.

He also posted: “Here is the interview in case you missed it. And over the next few days, I will be releasing even more.”

Whatever Smith releases, and whatever develops in political arenas around the raid on him and Limberg, could provide the public, and even SAPS, with more understanding of this messy situation and who is at fault.

But it could also contribute to distracting police officers who are legitimately investigating criminal cases. DM

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