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How cybercriminals hacked Ekurhuleni’s IT system to steal R2bn

Spyware, insider access, and lack of audit trails enabled massive municipal billing scam

1 min read
Mpho Mafole, head of Ekurhuleni’s corporate and forensic audit department, was shot dead last Monday while driving on the R23 in Esselen Park.
Mpho Mafole, head of Ekurhuleni’s corporate and forensic audit department, was shot dead last Monday while driving on the R23 in Esselen Park. Mpho Mafole, head of Ekurhuleni’s corporate and forensic audit department, was shot dead last Monday while driving on the R23 in Esselen Park.Picture: Facebook

A brazen takeover by a cybercrime syndicate saw Ekurhuleni’s IT billing system effectively seized, former municipal manager Imogen Mashazi’s laptop hacked, and a covert spy device deployed — fuelling a shadowy operation investigators say enabled a staggering R2bn fraud.

The full extent of the unprecedented breach is set out in a forensic report compiled by OMA Chartered Accountants in July 2025, detailing how the syndicate systematically infiltrated and took control of the municipality’s IT billing infrastructure, known as SOLAR.

According to the report, a network of municipal insiders and conveyancers colluded by funnelling payments of about R40,000 per transaction to “billing solution providers” to orchestrate the manipulation and deletion of municipal debt records, creating the false appearance of reduced or cleared balances to unlawfully fast-track property transfers.

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