Cat Matlala To File Affidavit On KZN Top Cop’s ‘Taking Him Out’ Threat — Madlanga Commission

Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala walked into one of South Africa’s most volatile legal battlegrounds this week, carrying a document that could shatter the career of KwaZulu-Natal’s most senior police officer. The corruption-accused businessman confirmed he will submit a sworn affidavit to the Madlanga Commission detailing a private encounter with Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi — a meeting he describes as deeply unsettling.

During that encounter, Matlala claims the KZN provincial police commissioner allegedly uttered remarks referencing “taking him out” — language that his legal representatives are treating with the utmost gravity. The affidavit will formally place those words before the commission, forcing investigators to interrogate what a sitting Lt-Gen meant when speaking directly to a man already entangled in serious criminal proceedings.

Mkhwanazi’s office had not issued any official rebuttal by the time this article went to press. The South African Police Service’s national communications directorate similarly offered no clarifying statement, leaving Matlala’s version of events entirely uncontested in the public domain — a silence that many observers found conspicuous given the explosive nature of what was described.

Matlala’s legal troubles stretch back several years, with prosecutors pursuing charges tied to alleged financial misconduct. His connection to powerful political networks in KwaZulu-Natal has made every development surrounding his case a flashpoint — watched closely by anti-corruption advocates, opposition figures, and communities exhausted by impunity at the highest levels of governance.

Outside the Durban hearing venue on Tuesday, a middle-aged woman clutching a folded newspaper stared at a printed photograph of Mkhwanazi pinned beside the entrance. She said nothing. She simply tapped the image twice with one finger, turned, and disappeared into the crowd.

What remains unresolved is whether the Madlanga Commission possesses sufficient authority to compel Mkhwanazi to respond under oath — and whether Matlala himself will face cross-examination robust enough to test every claim embedded in that sworn declaration. KwaZulu-Natal has buried too many uncomfortable truths beneath procedural delays. Families across the province are asking a question nobody in uniform seems eager to answer: when a commissioner’s own words demand scrutiny, who exactly holds that power accountable.

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