Faro was being taken through evidence by advocate Mpilo Sikhakhane that appeared to show possible outside influence over a City of Tshwane land invasion security tender, when she made the remarks.

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The commission has previously heard that TMPD deputy chief Umashi Dlamini allegedly compiled a list of seven preferred bidders, which was passed through suspended SAPS sergeant Fannie Nkosi to CFO Gareth Mnisi, before Nkosi allegedly submitted two additional preferred names of his own —  Ngaphesheya Construction and Projects (Pty) Ltd, which belongs to Nkosi’s brother, and El Shadai Security Services.

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“I have not seen the service level agreement before it was signed. No draft was sent to me. Nothing was sent to me to go through,” Faro said.

Pressed by Commissioner Sandile Khumalo, Faro conceded she was unaware of the appointment at the time.

“No, I was not aware of that. I have not received a list to say these are the successful service providers,” she said.

Khumalo described the situation as “a serious red flag”.

The revelation drew immediate concern from the commission, with Khumalo questioning how agreements could be prepared and signed without the knowledge of the city’s police chief.

SABC reported that Khumalo said it was a “serious red flag” that Faro only saw the agreements after they had been signed by someone acting in her position while she was on leave.

ALSO READ: Faro: ‘I acted immediately on ad-hoc service irregularities’

Faro distanced herself from the drafting and signing of the SLAs, saying the process falls under the city’s legal and financial departments.

“The service level agreement is drawn up between the legal department and the office of the group financial services. I did not receive it before I went on leave, that is a fact and that is the truth,” she said.

She rejected suggestions that her lack of awareness amounted to a failure of leadership.
“I cannot sit here and agree with something that says if my involvement is not there, that I should have [known]. If that part does not involve you, it cannot be said that you have failed,” Faro said.

However, she acknowledged a gap in the system, suggesting that TMPD leadership should be involved earlier in the process before SLAs are finalised.

Commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga questioned how such irregularities could go undetected for so long.

“Why aren’t there systems that make sure that if something wrong has happened, it must be found out, it must be discovered soon enough. It must not be purely fortuitous that we do become aware of it. There must be systems in place that make sure that one, it either doesn’t happen or if it has happened, it is discovered soon enough,” Madlanga said.

Faro agreed that the system had been compromised.

“We wouldn’t have been sitting here if it wasn’t compromised. I agree 150 percent,” she said.

Faro said TMPD is conducting a wider probe into the tender processes, extending beyond individual contracts and including the approval and payment chain.

“We are looking at all of that: the point system, the documents, everything. If I want to do consequence management, it’s the entire food chain,” she said.

Commissioner Sesi Baloyi pressed Faro on whether non-compliant appointments would ultimately trigger consequences. Faro said investigations were underway and that the full chain of approvals and payments was being examined.
 
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Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) Chief Commissioner Yolande Faro has insisted that she moved swiftly to halt what she described as “unauthorised irregularities”, raising concern over how ad-hoc services were approved, deployed and paid for outside formal processes.

Testifying before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday afternoon, Faro said she only became aware of the irregularities after an internal email flagged the scale of spending.

“I became aware of the cost and the fact that there was no clarity of the procurement of this ad hoc security services. It was not apparent that there was a proper procedure in place,” Faro said.

Faro told the commission that she received an email from suspended Deputy Commissioner for Support and Administrative Services Umashi Dhlamini flagged a surge in additional sites requiring urgent security.

Faro said the request for additional funding, or an extension of the existing budget, was communicated in a 12 March 2025 email from Dhlamini to Deputy Commissioner for Asset Protection and Security Services Revo Spies.

“This email stated that the deployment of ad hoc security guards had grown exponentially, and indicated that an extra 37 sites were added in January 2025, with a further six sites added in February 2025. In total, it came to 43 sites. I was copied in this email, and notably, it attached invoices for ad hoc services for January and February 2025,” Faro said.

She said she immediately instructed Asset Protection unit-head Deputy Commissioner Revo Spies to halt all ad-hoc deployments, warning that the expenditure could trigger audit findings and harm the municipality’s finances.

“I’m not going to request additional budget for unauthorised ad hoc sites, this behaviour must stop,” she said, describing her response as urgent after discovering that dozens of additional sites had been secured without clear approval.

In line with Spies’ previous testimony before the commission, Faro identified an “Inspector Lebogang Phiri” as a key figure in the irregular deployments, stating he had no authority to issue instructions for ad-hoc security services.

“It would seem that the rising cost largely emanated from the unauthorised and irregular deployment of ad hoc security services by Inspector Phiri. He had no authority to issue such directives,” she said.

Evidence before the commission shows that Phiri signed multiple deployment letters authorising security services, specifically despite not being empowered to do so.

Faro confirmed that Phiri has since been issued with a notice of intention to suspend, although commissioners questioned why disciplinary action took nearly a year.

She attributed the delay to a “complex” internal investigation involving multiple departments, missing information and internal bottlenecks, including documents that were not escalated timeously by senior officials.

Commissioners raised concern that payments continued to be processed despite the apparent lack of authority behind the deployments.

Faro acknowledged that the problem extended beyond Phiri, confirming that officials who approved invoices were also under scrutiny.

“People just approved invoices without checking service levels, but we know who processed it, and we are looking at the entire process,” she said.

She added that investigators are tracing who authorised, stamped and approved payments, with consequence management expected across what she described as the “whole food chain”.

The probe has also widened to include the role of suspended Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi, after evidence leaders presented WhatsApp messages suggesting close coordination between Mnisi and accused SAPS Sergeant Fannie Nkosi.

The exchanges indicate that Nkosi was involved in discussions around requisitions, purchase orders and payments.

In one instance, Nkosi appears to relay messages between Mnisi and senior municipal officials regarding payment processing.

The commission heard that messages also referenced efforts to increase target values and fast-track payments, raising questions about whether procurement processes were manipulated after services had already been rendered.

Faro was pressed on how such large-scale spending could occur without being detected during routine budget oversight.

She said that ad-hoc services were effectively invisible within formal financial reporting structures.

“You could only pick up the ad-hoc if the ad-hoc is done in the correct way, if people are doing things not in a manner that you do it transparently, then you will not immediately pick it up,” she said.

Unlike fixed “watchman services”, which are budgeted and reported, ad-hoc deployments had no dedicated budget line, no reporting mechanism and no approval process, allowing expenditure to escalate unchecked.

Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga described the absence of a budget framework as strange, noting that such security needs are foreseeable.

The commission also heard concerns about the distribution of work among the 22 contracted companies, with one firm, Gubis 85 Solutions, appearing to receive a disproportionate share of ad-hoc deployments.

Proceedings adjourned for the day, with Faro to resume her testimony on Wednesday morning.

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