Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has spent three days before the Madlanga Commission reversing earlier denials, admitting payments to senior police officials, and accusing investigators of forcing him to implicate former police minister Bheki Cele.
The central shift came over the R500,000 payment to former Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.
On Monday, Matlala denied giving Sibiya R500,000. On Tuesday, after being confronted with his own earlier statements and evidence put to him during questioning, he admitted the payment.
He told the commission the money was handed over in the basement of the State Theatre in Pretoria and was intended as a contribution towards the wedding of one of Sibiya’s children.
Matlala also confirmed a separate R50,000 payment linked to a South African Police Service (SAPS) awards event in KwaZulu-Natal. The two payments bring the total amount he acknowledged giving to Sibiya to R550,000.
He denied that the payments were bribes or that they were intended to influence the awarding of government contracts.
Sibiya has previously denied receiving money from Matlala. The commission has not made a final finding on the allegations.
Commissioners pressed Matlala on the contradictions between his testimony on Monday and Tuesday, and between his testimony and statements he previously made before Parliament.
On Tuesday, he acknowledged that his earlier denial of payments to Sibiya was false.
He said he was concerned for his family’s safety and offered to explain some matters in a private hearing. He was also questioned over his refusal to answer certain questions.
The R500,000 payment has drawn attention because of Matlala’s alleged involvement in a SAPS health-services contract awarded to his company, Medicare24.
The contract, valued at approximately R360 million, has featured prominently in investigations into alleged police corruption. Questions have been raised about whether payments to senior police officials were connected to the awarding of the contract.
Matlala denied that the R500,000 payment was made to secure the tender.
He also disputed parts of a previously signed statement, alleging that investigators included information he did not provide.
That dispute widened into a direct attack on the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (Idac).
Matlala further told the commission that Idac investigators pressured him to include false claims about Cele in his witness statement.
He said investigators wanted him to state that he had known Cele for a long time before they met on 23 December 2024, when he sought Cele’s help after a police raid at his house.
He said they wanted to create the impression that Cele had a close connection to taxi boss Jotham “King Mswazi” Msibi.
According to Matlala, investigators told him his account of seeing Cele once at Msibi’s funeral was not enough. They told him he needed to create a history of seeing Cele with Msibi before, to explain why he felt comfortable approaching him.
“Yes, I saw Cele once at Mr Msibi’s funeral. The guys from Idac said: ‘No this won’t be sufficient. You need to create a history as you used to see him with Mr Msibi before, that’s why you were so comfortable going to him, even though you never spoke, so there must be a history.’ That’s why they ended up putting this paragraph here,” Matlala said.
That instruction, he said, led to paragraph 86 of his 204 witness statement, which claimed Cele used to visit Msibi and that Msibi told him he was giving Cele large amounts of money.
Matlala rejected that paragraph as false. He said investigators inserted it because they wanted to discredit Cele and have him arrested.
He said he was not closely acquainted with Cele and had only met him once at the Beverly Hills hotel between 23 and 26 December 2024, when he told him about his difficulties with the Political Killings Task Team.
Matlala said he paid Cele to help with a civil case against the task team, in which he was trying to recover items he said were taken during the raid, including a Rolex watch.
“I did give Cele money but that money was exaggerated. Because now they wanted to charge him with corruption,” he said.
He said Cele was one of several SAPS figures Idac wanted to charge and arrest, including SAPS head of legal Simo Chamane, head of Crime Intelligence Dumisani Khumalo and Major-General Sandrah Thema. According to Matlala, investigators sought incriminating evidence against them by establishing a link through Cele.
He said Idac investigator Suneel Bellochun told him the aim was to strip Cele of his power and deal with him afterwards.
“What they were fighting for, I don’t know,” Matlala said.
He said investigators were angry when he turned down a 12-year plea deal, because it meant his 204 statement would no longer be used in court. He said former Idac head Andrea Johnson had been depending on that statement for her testimony at the commission in July.
Johnson did not appear as scheduled on 13 July after she was taken to hospital. It was reported that she had suffered a panic attack.
The commission is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. It was set up to investigate serious allegations of criminality, corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
Its inquiry covers claims involving senior police officials, government contracts and alleged relationships between law enforcement officers and organised crime.
It is looking into how the Medicare24 contract was awarded, who took part in the process, and whether payments to officials played any part.
The commission is still hearing witnesses and examining evidence. President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the deadline for its final report to 25 January 2027.