Matlala expresses fear of Sibiya, contradicts previous statements

Share current article via EmailShare current article via FacebookShare current article via TwitterShare current article via LinkedInIsaac MahlanguSenior reporter

Opens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowEnter fullscreen mode displaying this image.ExpandVusimusi “Cat” Matlala testifies before the Madlanga commission in Pretoria. Picture: Freddy Mavunda/Business Day Alleged underworld figure Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s three days of testimony at the Madlanga commission this week were marked by contradictions and his apparent fear of former top cop Shadrack Sibiya.

Matlala also denied several statements contained in his section 204 affidavit, which formed part of his failed plea deal with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac).

He also declined to answer certain questions, preferring to respond in camera, citing fears for his safety and that of his family. Some of these concerns related to questions about Sibiya.

When commissioner Sandile Khumalo asked Matlala why he had allegedly given Sibiya R500,000 as a contribution towards his son’s wedding, despite the two not being related, Matlala said answering the question could expose him and his family to harm.

“The question that you are asking me now, it falls within that security issue [earlier raised with evidence leaders],” Matlala said.

Khumalo pressed him, asking: “Are you saying you fear for your safety and your family members’ safety?”

Matlala previously told the parliamentary committee that he had made a cash payment of R300,000 on the same day or the day after Cele requested money

As a result, he did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the payment, although he confirmed making it.

Matlala also contradicted several statements he previously made before parliament’s ad hoc committee.

He had told parliament that former police minister Bheki Cele had asked him for R1m. But this week he said the proposal for the money had come from Cele’s associate.

His account of payments made to Cele also differed.

Matlala previously told the parliamentary committee that he had made a cash payment of R300,000 on the same day or the day after Cele requested money.

But this week he testified that the initial payment was R200,000. Confronted on the discrepancy, he said he might have been “mixing up” the two payments.

Matlala, who disputed several statements attributed to him in the section 204 affidavit, also detailed how Idac officials, led by chief investigator Dylan Perumal and investigator Brian Padayachee, would allegedly book him out of prison without his lawyer’s knowledge.

He distanced himself from the affidavit, insisting that it had not been drafted by him.

He also recounted an incident in which, after being booked out of prison, he was driven by Padayachee to the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, where Perumal was picked up.

He said the Idac officials wanted him to provide information or damaging material about:

“Guys from Idac … they served me with a warrant of arrest. The following morning, when they brought me to court, they told me: ‘Listen, we are not actually after you; we need to arrest you so that we can get to the people we want,’” Matlala said.

I had asked the junior lawyers [to record], because when I was giving a statement Perumal was the one who was typing whatever suited him

He said he was made to phone Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona, head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, at around 2am in an attempt to obtain information about the three senior police officers, but the effort yielded nothing.

He claimed to have proof that he had not drafted the affidavit.

“I had asked the junior lawyers [to record], because when I was giving a statement Perumal was the one who was typing whatever suited him,” Matlala said.

On numerous occasions, he invoked his right against self-incrimination, while on others he raised concerns about the safety of himself and his family.

Later in the week, the acting co-ordinator of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (Nicoc), Ntandazo Sifolo, told the commission that organised crime syndicates had infiltrated the country’s criminal justice system to such an extent that Khumalo was on the verge of giving up.

Parts of Sifolo’s testimony were heard in camera.

He said the infiltration had been reversed through interventions that began last year, adding that the July 6 briefing by Mkhwanazi was not the work of one individual.

He said efforts to clean up the criminal justice system had been met with fierce resistance from those who had allegedly infiltrated and captured the system.

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