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SARS searches Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi's office and home

Published

South African Revenue Service officials executed search warrants on Thursday as they probe the financial affairs of Tshwane Chief Financial Officer Gareth Mnisi. He was seen leaving Tshwane House with the officials, after the city earlier suspended him on full pay.

The City of Tshwane placed Mnisi on precautionary suspension with pay over alleged misconduct. The matter is linked to claims of tender fraud involving former SAPS Sergeant Fannie Nkosi. The Madlanga Commission alleges that Mnisi shared confidential tender information with Nkosi.

Unnamed accusers say Mnisi has wealth he cannot explain, including a fleet of luxury vehicles and multimillion-rand properties. They say the assets do not match his salary, which is over R100,000 a month. Mnisi says he acquired the assets as part of his divorce proceedings.

Key facts

Who
Gareth Mnisi (City of Tshwane Chief Financial Officer (CFO)); Fannie Nkosi (former South African Police Service (SAPS) Sergeant); South African Revenue Service (agency probing Mnisi's financial affairs; officials executed search warrants); Samkelo Mgobozi (Tshwane mayoral spokesperson)
What
SARS officials executed search warrants at the office and home of Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi, whose financial affairs SARS is probing; Mnisi was seen leaving Tshwane House with SARS officials. Mnisi was earlier placed on precautionary suspension with pay over alleged misconduct linked to claims of tender fraud with former SAPS Sergeant Fannie Nkosi.
When
29 October 2026
Where
Tshwane, Tshwane House
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

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Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

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US mid-terms Heating up

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Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

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Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

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AI Cooling

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Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

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