Matlala also bankrolled top cop's lifestyle, inquiry told

SUSPECTED crime kingpin, Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, allegedly shared information with KwaZulu-Natal SAPS Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi about a Sandton house where suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya purportedly collected money in a State vehicle.

Matlala also allegedly claimed to have paid R2 million towards Sibiya's plot purchase. 

These allegations emerged in testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria, where KZN Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona testified on Tuesday.

They were contained in WhatsApp messages Mkhwanazi allegedly sent to Senona about his meeting with Matlala at his Durban homestead on April 15, 2025.

The meeting was allegedly arranged by former Police minister Bheki Cele for Matlala to get Mkhwanazi's help with his dispute over a cancelled R360 million SAPS medical services contract with his company Medicare24.

Matlala had stopped receiving purchase orders from the SAPS Pretoria College. Senona said Matlala attended the meeting with Mkhwanazi, but Cele was absent.

However, Mkhwanazi's WhatsApp messages on November 26, 2025, suggested that Senona arranged the meeting.

One of the messages read: “Hi General (Senona) I trust you are well. You made arrangements that I meet this guy Cat because he is your friend and brother.  And he needed my help to speak to General (Lineo) Nkhuoa to place orders on his contract. 

“He volunteered information about a house in Sandton where Sibiya collects money in a State vehicle and that he paid R2 million towards Sibiya's purchase of his plot. He also told me about Sibiya's townhouse.” 

Mkhwanazi allegedly implied Matlala misled the Ad Hoc Committee, saying Matlala introduced their meeting and then lied under oath, putting his own life at risk by inviting Mkhwanazi to reveal information Matlala shared.

Mkhwanazi's message continued, saying he is going to the committee and will not hesitate to expose Matlala to Sibiya and another person whose identity was withheld at the commission.

“If he thinks he can fool the committee, it is okay. I will not say much, but I will simply play a recording of our meeting because I have the record,” read Mkhwanazi’s message.

Senona testified that Mkhwanazi's messages seemed intimidating. He forwarded them to his attorneys, who wrote a letter requesting the recordings, but have not received them yet.

“When you get these types of messages, you then get an insinuating situation that ‘don't talk about this’,” he said. 

Pressed to identify a part in the message that specifically warned him to be careful, he admitted Mkhwanazi did not explicitly say “I must not go there and testify but it leaves me with an impression that I must be careful”.

“These messages rattled me as a person and not because I am worried about the recording. I am looking forward to those recordings if they do exist,” Senona said.

He also told the commission that he received a letter of intended transfer last Friday January 23, 2026, from his employer related to the evidence of Witness C and Witness  X before the commission.

Cape Times