Controversial businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH
Mafia boss Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala will learn on Wednesday whether a court will endorse the plea deal that is set to jail him and turn him into a state witness against senior police officers.
Magistrate Ignatius du Preez is due to deliver his decision in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Matlala pleaded guilty on Thursday last week to seven counts of fraud, corruption and money laundering linked to a R228m SA Police Service health tender awarded to his company, Medicare24 Tshwane District.
His case had been separated from that of his co-accused the day before, allowing him to be dealt with on his own.
"How do you plead to this count?" Du Preez asked.
"I plead guilty," Matlala replied.
He gave the same answer when the corruption and money-laundering counts were put to him.
Under a section 105A plea and sentencing agreement, negotiated with the National Prosecuting Authority's Investigating Directorate Against Corruption over about two months, Matlala agreed to turn state witness in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The state proposed that the court impose 15 years' imprisonment, with seven years suspended, leaving him to serve an effective eight years.
The suspension is conditional on Matlala giving full and frank testimony in future trials, remaining in the country until after 2030, and giving up his firearm rights.
Unlike a section 204 agreement, he was not granted immunity from prosecution.
His companies, Medicare24 Tshwane District and Cat VIP Protection Services, would each pay a R1 million fine, suspended for five years.
Matlala admitted that he had irregularly secured the tender and paid bribes to police officials involved in awarding it.
He acknowledged paying more than R300,000 to Brigadier Rachel Matjeng, a police forensic services official who was in a romantic relationship with him and who referred SAPS members to his company for medical screening.
The tender was advertised at about R360m, but the contract was awarded to Matlala's company for about R228m.
It was awarded in June 2024 and cancelled in May 2025 after an internal audit flagged irregularities in the procurement process, by which point his company had been paid about R50m.
His lawyer, Advocate Hlawu Maluleke, urged the court to show leniency and said Matlala was the primary caregiver for six of his minor children.
"He is 100% responsible for all of their living expenses, their support, that would include issues like school fees and medical-related expenses that have to do with his minor children," Maluleke said.
Du Preez raised several concerns before reserving his decision, including who would care for Matlala's children if he were jailed and whether the conditions attached to his cooperation were clear enough.
The state has said Matlala's cooperation could reshape the wider case and lead to more arrests.
State advocate Santhos Manilall said the deal had, for the first time, given prosecutors direct evidence against senior decision-makers.
"For the first time, we have an accused who has come forward and has given us details that we would not have been made aware of, evidence that we would not have been able to obtain," Manilall said.
Matlala was one of 17 people originally charged in the matter.
His co-accused include a dozen senior police officers linked to the committee that awarded the tender, Medicare24 managing director James Murray, and suspended national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, who was charged separately by summons.
Masemola, who faces charges of contravening the Public Finance Management Act, remains out on warning.
That part of the case was postponed to August 28 to allow the state to amend the charge sheet after Matlala's plea.
Matlala, a security boss from Mamelodi who owns Cat VIP Protection Services, has become a central figure in the scandal over alleged criminal infiltration of the police.
He is being held as a high-risk inmate at the C-Max section of the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre.
He also faces a separate trial on 25 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder, arising from three shooting incidents between August 2022 and January 2024.
The allegations against him form part of the wider inquiry by the Madlanga commission into corruption within the criminal justice sysystem.
IOL