Mudzinganyama’s Company Blacklisted: From R400m Tenders To Zero
Probe into Moriel started in 2025
By Fanuel Viriri
South Africa’s Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson says the State investigation into a company linked to Zimbabwean businessman Lawrence Mudzinganyama began well before the viral video insulting women in Sandton that eventually led to the blacklisting of a company linked to him.
Macpherson said on Tuesday that Moriel Infrastructure Group was officially struck off the CIDB’s national contractor register on 15 October 2026 after the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) found it had misrepresented information to secure higher grading.
Central to the case is the CIDB grading system, which determines what size and type of government work a contractor can do.
The system has two parts:
1. The Number (1 to 9) = Financial capability: Grade 1 contractors can only handle projects up to about R1 million, while Grade 7 contractors can handle up to R200 million. Grade 8 can handle R400 million, and Grade 9 is unlimited and can bid for billion-rand projects.
2. The Letters = Type of work: CE stands for Civil Engineering (roads, bridges, dams), GB for General Building (schools, hospitals), ME for Mechanical Engineering, and EP for Electrical Infrastructure (power lines, substations).
Moriel held several high-level designations, including 8CE, 8SB, 8SK, 7EP, 7ME and 7GB. In practical terms, this meant the company was registered as capable of executing Grade 8 civil and building projects worth hundreds of millions of rands, and Grade 7 electrical and mechanical projects.
According to Macpherson, that is why misrepresentation is treated as a serious offence. If a company obtains a Grade 8 fraudulently, it can be awarded a R300 million government contract when it only has capacity for a R5 million job, putting public funds and infrastructure safety at risk. From today, Moriel moves from R400m tenders to zero.
Addressing a media briefing in Pretoria, Macpherson said he wanted to address the Moriel matter directly because the investigation predated the social media outrage.
“I want to address the matter of Moriel Infrastructure Group directly, because the investigation into the company began well before the social media coverage that emerged in September of 2026 — and rightfully so after that man’s behaviour towards women in a restaurant in Johannesburg,” Macpherson said.
“The CIDB commenced its investigation into the company in 2025 and served its first formal notice that year. While allegations of criminal conduct, including violence and intimidation, fall within the jurisdiction of law enforcement, I’ve been clear that threats against women will never be tolerated and certainly not in the construction sector.”
According to the Minister, following further investigation, an additional notice was served on 11 September 2026.
“This process was therefore initiated long before the matters were raised, but they were certainly amplified by the public scrutiny that informed many of the claims made against the company,” he said.
The regulatory action comes as Mudzinganyama faces a separate criminal case stemming from an incident at the Vlamo Restaurant in Sandton last month. The businessman attracted widespread attention after a video allegedly showing him threatening to kill three women circulated on social media after they reportedly rejected his advances.
He was arrested on 20 September 2026 and initially released on a warning on a charge of intimidation. On 1 October, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court granted him R10 000 bail. He is now facing ten counts — among them fraud, intimidation, crimen injuria and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The matter is expected back in the Randburg Regional Court on 30 October.
Macpherson said the CIDB, which falls under his department, is now pursuing a tougher approach to enforcement. Between 2002 and 2024 only one contractor was blacklisted. That figure has now risen to 75 companies blacklisted by October 2026.
“We are not interested in removing contractors for the sake of producing statistics, but we are interested in ensuring that the companies entrusted with public infrastructure have the qualifications, experience and financial capacity they claim to possess,” Macpherson said.