Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
A police captain who helped Vusimusi "Cat" Matlala put together a fraudulent bid for a multimillion rand tender was the very same man appointed to chair the committee that evaluated it.
That is according to the charge sheet in the case in which 14 people and two companies appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
They face charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.
The accused — which include a major general, several brigadiers and colonels, all serving members of the SA Police Service — were arrested by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, or IDAC, on Tuesday.
All of them, except Matlala, were granted bail ranging from R40, 000 to R80, 000, subject to stringent conditions.
IDAC is the state's specialist anti-corruption unit that operates under the National Prosecuting Authority and was established specifically to investigate serious corruption in state institutions.
The tender was budgeted at about R360m, but due to collusion between police officials and Matlala’s company, it was ultimately awarded for R228,665.280.
The tender is related to health risk management services for police members across all nine provinces.
It included medical screenings, wellness checks, illness assessments, pre-employment medicals, and injury-on-duty assessments for three years.
Suspected crime kingpin Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala appeared in court alongside senior police officers
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
But before a single medical screening had taken place, the process was already compromised.
It is the state's case that on January 31 2024, SAPS advertised the tender with a closing date of February 19 2024 — less than 21 days later.
National Treasury regulations require a minimum advertising period of 21 days.
The charge sheet, seen by IOL, said the tender was not urgent and that the shorter window was never authorised.
"The tender was advertised for less than 21 days on the e-tender portal and the accounting officer of the SAPS had not authorised [supply chain management] to advertise the tender for a shorter period," it said.
In other words, the tender should not have been advertised the way it was.
Twenty-two companies responded, but the state said the one that won should never have been in the running.
"The bid submitted by [Matlala] on behalf of [Medicare 24 Tshwane] was not an 'acceptable tender' as defined in section 1 of the PPPFA," the charge sheet said.
Matlala, 49, is a controversial Pretoria businessman who first came under the spotlight after Jeff Wicks of News24 exposed his business dealings, detailing how his company secured lucrative state contracts and raising questions about the processes behind those tenders.
Matlala registered Medicare 24 Tshwane District in February 2019 after approaching the CEO of the Medicare 24 Holdings franchise about buying into the business.
The two entities shared a name but were entirely separate companies.
Medicare 24 Tshwane was listed on the Central Supplier Database with a business address in Bardene, Boksburg, an address the state said was not its own.
"By furnishing the said address as its preferred address, it was represented that [Medicare 24 Tshwane] carried on business at that address," the charge sheet said.
It did not.
When Matlala submitted the bid in February 2024, the charge sheet alleged, the company made misrepresentation after misrepresentation.
All government bidders are required to complete a "standard bid document" — known as an SBD1 form — in which they declare important details about their company, including its address, capacity and compliance with procurement requirements.
Medicare 24 Tshwane's SBD1 form, the state said, was riddled with lies.
According to the charge sheet, the company misrepresented:
The company was not even registered as a VAT vendor when it submitted its bid.
In the standard bid document, Medicare 24 Tshwane was also required to declare whether it had any prior contact with SAPS officials involved in the tender.
It declared that "there has been no consultations, communications, agreements or any arrangements made by the bidder with any official of the procuring institution in relation to this procurement process prior to and during the bidding process except to provide clarification on the bid submitted where so required by the institution".
It also declared that "the bidder was not involved in the drafting of the specifications or terms of reference of this bid".
That declaration, the NPA said, "was false."
"The declaration by [Medicare 24 Tshwane] through the instrumentality of [Matlala] and [Murray], were false in that [Matlala] had consultations, communications, agreements or arrangements with [Murray] prior to and during the bidding process," the charge sheet said.
Helping Matlala — who is accused number one in the charge sheet — put the bid together were James George Murray, 46, and Captain Brian Neville Cartwright, 45, a SAPS officer in the Supply Chain Management division.
Cartwright is accused three in the charge sheet.
That alone was irregular, the state said.
Cartwright was then appointed by the Divisional Commissioner of SCM to serve as the facilitator of the Bid Evaluation Committee — the BEC — the body responsible for assessing all 22 bids submitted for the tender, including the one he had just helped to write.
The BEC is the panel that decides which bid qualifies and which does not.
In this case, the man chairing that panel had helped write the winning bid.
"[Cartwright] at that stage was well acquainted with and knew [Matlala] and [Medicare 24 Tshwane] and should have declined the appointment as facilitator due to the conflict of interest," the charge sheet said.
He did not decline.
He chaired the committee, helped compile its daily minutes and signed off on the submissions sent to the Bid Adjudication Committee — the BAC, the higher body that makes the final award — recommending that Medicare 24 Tshwane be given the contract.
"[Cartwright] in addition was involved in compiling the daily minutes of the BEC and the BEC submissions to the Bid Adjudication Committee," the charge sheet said.
The due diligence visit the committee conducted was, according to the charge sheet, a fiction.
On April 2 2024, BEC members conducted what was supposed to be a physical inspection of Medicare 24 Tshwane's premises to verify that the company was who and what it said it was.
Instead, they went to the offices of Medicare 24 Holdings in Boksburg — the franchisor, a completely different company owned by Michael Van Wyk and James Marais.
"The due diligence was conducted at the premises of Medicare 24 Holdings in Boksburg, which was the premises of Mike Van Wyk and James Marais and was not the premises of [Medicare 24 Tshwane], being the 103 North Rand Road, Bardene, Boksburg, Gauteng, 1458, as listed in the bid document," the charge sheet said.
"[Murray] was present and attended the due diligence at Medicare 24 Holdings premises," it said.
The BEC then filed a report confirming that Medicare 24 Tshwane had a PERSAP-compatible computer system, offices across the provinces, the required staff and all the necessary infrastructure.
None of it was true.
"No due diligence was conducted at [Medicare 24 Tshwane's] premises," the charge sheet said.
The BEC's subsequent submission to the BAC repeated the false claims.
Had the BEC told the truth, the charge sheet said, "it would have had to have resulted in the disqualification of [Medicare 24 Tshwane's] bid submission".
"The members of the BEC failed to disqualify [Medicare 24 Tshwane] and thereby created the false impression that [Medicare 24 Tshwane] had an operating system which was compatible with PERSAP and they had no reason to disqualify [Medicare 24 Tshwane] because of that," it said.
Senior procurement officer Tumisho Nehemiah Maleka, 45, was the Quality Assurer on the tender — the official responsible for ensuring that everything in the BEC submissions was truthful, accurate and compliant with bid specifications.
He was supposed to be the last line of defence. He was not.
The charge sheet said he "did not query or question the fact that all the appointed BEC members did not sign the due diligence report" and "failed to identify the irregularities regarding the lack of attendance by BEC members in the BEC minutes".
"[Maleka's] failure to exercise his duties as Quality Assurer on this tender, enabled the unlawful award to [Medicare 24 Tshwane]," it said.
On June 14 2024, the BAC awarded the contract to Medicare 24 Tshwane.
SAPS then paid the company R50,310,590.68 across 199 transactions directly into an FNB account controlled by Matlala.
Then came the alleged money laundering.
The money was alleged moved through a chain of companies and bank accounts to hide where it came from.
It left Medicare 24 Tshwane's FNB account and was transferred to Luxo Africa Brand Investments — another company controlled by Matlala.
From there it was moved to an FNB account held by a company called Osizweni Meat Hyper.
From that account it was transferred into the personal Absa bank account of a woman named Modiegi Christina Nnyalleng Kekana.
From Kekana's account, cash was then handed to Rachel Matjeng, 51.
"From the Absa personal account of Modiegi Christina Nnyalleng Kekana, cash withdrawals were made available to [Matjeng]," the charge sheet said.
Matjeng was a SAPS member stationed in the Division: Forensic Science Services — one of the SAPS units that used the health services provided under the contract.
Her role, the state alleged, was straightforward but essential.
"In terms of her roles and responsibilities in SAPS she referred multiple members from SAPS for medical screening to [Medicare 24 Tshwane] that resulted in purchase orders being issued in relation to the services that [Medicare 24 Tshwane] was contracted to provide and thereby enabled [Medicare 24 Tshwane] to invoice the SAPS," the charge sheet said.
Without her referrals, the company could not bill.
For that, she allegedly received three cash payments of R100,000 each — on January 13, February 4 and March 17 2025 — totalling R300,000.
Matjeng recently appeared before the Madlanga Commission, where she testified about her relationship with Matlala after it was discovered that more than R200,000 had gone into her account months after he received the tender.
She told the commission the money was a “girlfriend’s allowance”.
The remaining accused are the BEC members who allegedly evaluated the bid, conducted the sham due diligence and recommended the award.
They are:
Together with Matlala, Murray, Cartwright, Matjeng, Medicare 24 Tshwane and Luxo Africa Brand Investments, they face 15 counts — three of fraud, six of corruption, three of money laundering and three of acquiring or possessing proceeds of unlawful activities.
If convicted on the corruption charges, the accused face up to 18 years in prison in a regional court, or life imprisonment if the matter is referred to the High Court.
The court may also impose a fine of "equal to five times the value of the gratification involved in the offence," the charge sheet said — in this case potentially running into tens of millions of rand.
The matter will be back in court on May 13.
IOL