The City of Cape Town has dismissed a high-ranking official accused of colluding with the "construction mafia" and underworld figures. 

Director of public housing Sipokazi September has been dismissed after being found guilty during a disciplinary hearing.

City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said September was charged in a disciplinary process and dismissed on 9 January.

"The City is serious about following due process, accountability, transparency and consequence management, and ensuring that officials are charged if they are found guilty of misconduct in terms of the labour legislation," he added. 

Tyhalibongo said two other staff members have been suspended for serious misconduct. 

"The City is not at liberty to disclose any charges as the matters are either under further judicial review or have not progressed to disciplinary processes as yet," he said.

News24 understands September was suspended after the police raided her offices and conducted a search-and-seizure operation following tender fraud allegations against former human settlements MMC Malusi Booi. 

Over the past few months, several Cape Town construction contractors have been forced to abandon their sites following alleged acts of intimidation and extortion from the alleged construction mafia. 

After Booi's offices were raided in March last year, he was removed from the human settlements portfolio.

He was suspended from participating in Democratic Alliance (DA) activities, pending the outcome of an investigation.

After his removal from the human settlements portfolio, Booi regularly attended council meetings. 

In October, he resigned as a DA councillor. 

ANC caucus leader Banele Majingo said the party welcomed any step toward clean governance.

"Anyone who takes advantage of the system at the cost of the rest of the citizens must bear the consequence.

"Corruption in the City of Cape Town [takes] away benefits meant for citizens and lowers the levels of public trust and confidence in the municipality," he said. 

Western Cape EFF regional secretary Banzi Dambuza told News24 the party was happy with September's dismissal. 

"An untrustworthy person cannot deal with the public. It is clear that other officials are also going through the same process. There is a lot of rot within that directorate," he claimed. 

African Christian Democratic Party councillor Marvin Christians said: "We are strong on two values when it comes to these situations.

"The first issue is that someone is innocent until proven guilty and, secondly, we always pursue the fact that due process must be followed."

Human Settlements MMC Carl Pophaim said since his appointment, he had been clear that the department would rebuild public trust in public housing. 

"This requires us to respond decisively to any form of malfeasance where it rears its ugly head.

"The human settlements directorate has been leading but also working with law enforcement agencies to make sure we root out any form of corruption or allegations thereof," he said. 

"We will not allow this narrative to grow that the construction mafia controls the city. This is the [Mayor Geordin] Hill-Lewis administration.

"We are committed to delivering in every community regardless of the obstacles, and we will work tooth and nail to eradicate those who look to extort from the poor when we are trying to deliver to the most vulnerable communities."