The R54 million software procurement case against former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has been postponed until 9 November 2026 by the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria, leaving two disputed SAPS contracts, worth roughly R54 million combined, in legal limbo well past the local government elections.
The case centres on two contracts that formed part of the police service’s operational toolkit during a turbulent period. One relates to the alleged irregular procurement of software known as RIPJAR, intended for use during the October 2015 #FeesMustFall protests by university students. The second concerns communication-encryption software known as Daedalus.
According to Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) spokesperson Henry Mamothame, the Daedalus software was allegedly used to encrypt calls and wipe cellphone records and messages at a time when Phahlane was under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) over the “Blue Lights” police tender and other alleged irregular procurement matters during his tenure as Acting National Police Commissioner.
The delay itself was explained in operational terms. “The postponement allows the conclusion of the Local Government Elections and gives some of the accused, who reside outside Gauteng, an opportunity to vote,” Mamothame said.
Phahlane and five co-accused face charges of fraud, corruption, theft and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) linked to the two contracts. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Godfrey Mahwayi, Major-General Maanda Obert Nemutandzhela, Major-General Mankosana Agnes Makhele, and businessmen Inbanathan Kistiah and Avendra Naidoo.
Meanwhile, a separate and larger procurement matter involving Phahlane remains unresolved. That case involves a R191 million SAPS emergency warning equipment contract. IDAC has provisionally withdrawn charges against Phahlane and several co-accused in that matter pending further consideration of aspects of the case.
The delivery record of that contract sits at the heart of the allegations. It was valued at more than R191 million, with about R65 million already paid to the company that secured the tender, while investigators prevented a further R22 million payment from going through. The accused in that matter faced charges including corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.
The list of officials charged in that separate case reads as a cross-section of senior police leadership: former deputy national commissioner Bonang Mgwenya, former Gauteng police commissioner Deliwe de Lange, Gauteng deputy police commissioner Nombhuruza Lettie Napo, retired divisional commissioner Ramahlapi Johannes Mokwena, retired major-general Ravichandran Pillay, and several business figures linked to the contract.
For now, the practical effect of the postponement is that questions over how these procurement processes were run, and what the police service actually received for the money spent, will stay unanswered. The software procurement case returns to the Pretoria High Court on 9 November, when proceedings in the R54 million matter resume. The R191 million emergency warning equipment case waits on IDAC’s further consideration before charges can be reinstated or pursued.
What remains clear is the scale of the disputed spending under scrutiny: roughly R245 million across two procurement sagas, one involving protest-monitoring software and encrypted communications equipment, the other an emergency warning equipment contract of which R65 million has already been paid out and a further R22 million was blocked. Whether the delivery gaps in both contracts are ever tested in court now rests on what happens on and after 9 November.