Inquiry told of cash in Woolies bags as MPs grill 'Cat' Matlala on R500,000 paid to Bheki Cele

Members of Parliament grilled Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala extensively about not only his R500,000 cash payments to former Minister Bheki Cele, but also the raids on his home and his connections to Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya.

The Ad Hoc Committee established to investigate the allegations made by the South African Police Service (SAPS) KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Head, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, heard Matlala’s claims that former police minister Bheki Cele demanded a bribe of R1million - a sum Matlala alleges he partly paid in Woolworths bags.

Matlala, currently detained at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre since his April arrest, is facing multiple serious charges, including conspiracy to commit murder and involvement in a R2 billion fraud linked to Tembisa Hospital.

Thursday proceedings first started with the evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse S.C challenging Matlala to explain the nature of his relationship with Sibiya, SA's former acting police commissioner. 

Matlala said they had three meetings, and Arendse found it strange that Sibiya didn't mention any of this in his testimony, having claimed that he only knew Matlala as a service provider.

He elaborated on his testimony from Wednesday, explaining that in the third meeting with Sibiya, Matlala said he was questioned about the kidnapping of his friend Jerry Boshoga.

When asked by Arendse if he had anything to do with the kidnapping, Matlala said he didn't.

MPs didn’t hold back when they started with questioning Matlala, with the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach grilling him on his history with police, listing arrests for theft out of a motor vehicle, burglary at a residential premises, common assault, possession of housebreaking equipment, house robbery, carjacking, possession of a firearm without a licence, impersonation of a police officer, resisting and obstructing or assaulting a police officer. 

In those matters, they were withdrawn, or he was acquitted. 

“How is it, Mr Matlala, that you lived such a charmed life? Out of that entire list of activities, you were only convicted once. Uh, how did you manage that?” she questioned, to which he answered, “Was I supposed to be convicted?”

She also questioned him on the SAPS R360 million tender, where he said that he had only received about roughly R50m. 

“You're quite generous... You give away quite a lot of money. You bankroll Cele to the tune of half a million. You bankroll the ANC's party on the 8th of January…I'm saying normal people would feel that money. No, nobody just hands out that kind of cash.”

“Even myself, I felt it,” Matlala said. 

She ended her questioning, stating, “In my view, Mr Matlala, you're not a businessman. You're a crook. You're a thief, you're a fraud, and you're corrupt, and the problem in this country today is that people like yourself clothe yourself in the respectability of calling yourself a businessman, when you are nothing but a dishonest thug. You make an illicit fortune by stealing from the poorest of the poor. It's people like you and your associates that have robbed generations of South African children of their futures.”

The ANC’s Xola Nqola grilled Matlala on his relationship with Sergeant F. Nkosi and Sibiya.

“You have no personal relationship with General Sibiya, but his right-hand man runs your errands. You also attend some of his family occasions. How is that possible?” asked Nqola.

“It is possible.. Because I do not think Sergeant Nkosi only knows General Sibiya, so he has other interactions with other people besides him,” Matlala said.

Nqola questioned: “In your statement, you claim not to have a personal relationship with Sibiya, but he says you went to his office once. You say you went to his office three times. You have his right-hand man as your errand boy. You attend his family occasions. How is it possible that you don't know that person, in person?”

“But Sergeant Nkosi is not General Sibiya,” Matlala said. “Those are two different people.”

DA’s Ian Cameron grilled him on how he secured the tender, questioning how he was able to secure it despite it not meeting all the necessary requirements. 

“I think that they should have picked it up in the adjudication,” Matlala said. 

“That's why I'm asking who you paid,” Cameron responded. To which Matlala said, “no one.”

“In terms of your relationship with Minister Bheki Cele, explain this to me. Why would any legitimate businessman, as you call yourself, hand over half a million rand in cash to a, let's call him, an ex-government official if it's not a bribe?” Cameron probed.

“Because I was under very serious harassment from the same police,” Matlala said. 

“I wanna make you understand that aiding and abetting is when a person assists, enables, or finances someone else to engage in unlawful or criminal conduct. It includes paying someone to use illegal authority,” Cameron said. Matlala agreed.

“So would you then understand why we say that you bribed him?” Cameron asked.

Matlala said that to an extent, he could see why.

Cameron later highlighted that if Minister Bheki Cele asked him for money, he should have reported it. Matlala said: “You can't report the police to the police.”

“You absolutely can. We wouldn't be sitting here if people didn't report the police,” Cameron said.

“But I tried that, so for me, it never worked,” Matlala said.

“Mr Matlala, do you want us to believe that the former minister, multiple police generals, IPID, a torture victim, and a task team all conspired to target you? One businessman,” Cameron said.

“That's what happened,” Matlala said.

Cameron concluded by telling Matlala that he is not some “unlucky bystander that happened to find himself in this space”. 

Separately, the Ad Hoc Committee will now also have a few more months to do its work after the National Assembly adopted the draft resolution to extend the deadline to 20 February 2026. The draft resolution, moved by ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakuke, was adopted without objections.

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