Registration of ‘Cat’ Matlala’s private security company sparks shakeup at industry watchdog

Attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala is a key figure in South Africa’s policing scandal, which involves allegations that a drug trafficking cartel infiltrated law enforcement and got certain members to register private security companies.

Matlala is the director of a Gauteng-based security company, Cat Protection and Security (Pty) Ltd.

The company previously bid for a three-year National Treasury guarding contract. Had it been successful, Matlala, now one of South Africa’s most high-profile criminally accused, would probably have had access to government buildings dealing with the country’s finances.

Last year, Matlala, through another of his companies, was awarded a R360-million policing contract that has since been terminated.

That is one of the many issues connecting the tender tycoon to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the scandal around it.

As for Matlala’s Cat Protection and Security company, Daily Maverick established that it was listed among businesses that bid “to render 24-hour security guarding services for the National Treasury buildings and close protection services for 36 months”.

The bidding was done either last year or in 2023.

Based on a list of awarded tenders on the National Treasury website, the guarding contract went to another company.

Cat Protection and Security last year bid for other contracts, including “to provide physical security guarding services for Statistics South Africa” in Gauteng for 36 months.

Aside from the Cat Protection and Security company, Matlala is connected to another security business with a similar name.

Cat Protection and Security effectively sparked an intense set of reforms at the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira) to root out criminality and corruption in the industry.

All security companies and officers in South Africa have to register with Psira.

Its new action plan was announced last week.

Dodgy policing and dubious private security 

This is important because there are long-running suspicions that some individuals, including gangsters, use private security companies as fronts for criminal activity.

A key source in the sector said Psira’s new plan was “too late” as criminal elements had infiltrated the industry.

Among suspicions doing the rounds are that some private security companies or security officers in KwaZulu-Natal are getting firearms to the country’s gangsterism capital, the Western Cape, where there have been battles to dominate aspects of private security.

Read more: Private security watchdog tightens the industry leash – deploys debt collectors, focuses on criminal vetting

This points to an unsettling reality — that while accusations of criminality in the SAPS are rife, so too are suspicions of criminality in the private security sector.

This means that the public and private security sectors that residents turn to for protection may, at times, instead be putting them in danger.

Psira’s latest crackdown action involving Matlala and his company is connected to testimony heard at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

The commission started last month to investigate accusations that a drug trafficking cartel, known as the Big Five, had infiltrated South Africa’s law enforcement agencies, politics and private businesses, including security providers.

Big Five and ‘serious irregularities’ 

At the hearings, some of South Africa’s highest-ranking police officers alleged that Matlala was a key member of the Big Five. (Matlala, who faces attempted murder and money laundering charges, has not been criminally charged in connection with allegations made at the Madlanga Commission.)

Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, who headed Crime Intelligence, testified that when recruiting members, the Big Five targeted an array of individuals, including some in the criminal justice system.

He said the cartel’s members registered companies.

“In most cases, it’s private security companies that are the initial businesses for the members of the cartel that have just joined,” Khumalo testified.

“There are lots of reasons for that, including access to firearms.”

Read more: Big Five cartel’s dark web of political ties and criminal operations unveiled by Dumisani Khumalo

On Thursday, 9 October, Psira announced that eight of its staff members had been placed “on precautionary suspension” after “findings of serious irregularities” in the registration of Cat Protection and Security and Matlala.

“The preliminary investigation revealed improper conduct, procedural lapses and systemic weaknesses in internal control mechanisms, including failures in document verification, oversight and ethical compliance,” said Psira.

It came up with a plan that included:

• A legal review of the registration of Matlala and Cat Protection and Security.
• Reinforcing its vetting procedures for new and existing registrations to ensure “that criminal and background checks are independently verified”.
• Establishing a central verification unit.
• An immediate review of approved registrations of individuals with criminal records.

‘National security risk’ 

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia supported Psira’s action.

“The private security industry plays a vital role in public safety and national security,” he said on Thursday.

“Any lapse in integrity within its regulation endangers the trust of the people and the credibility of the state.”

He said Psira’s preliminary investigation into Matlala and Cat Protection and Security had “uncovered serious procedural and governance failures within the registration process … [which] compromised regulatory integrity and posed risks to public safety and national security”.

[Media Statement]

PSiRA IMPLEMENTS SWEEPING OPERATIONAL REFORMS TO STRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY AND PUBLIC TRUST pic.twitter.com/AmtY0LYHYs

— IG: PSiRALive (@PSiRALive) October 9, 2025

Cachalia directed Psira to “take comprehensive corrective action”, which is how its plan to tighten its controls came about.

Cachalia elaborated on the plan that Psira put forward.

A structural review of Psira’s council would be carried out “to strengthen decision-making, accountability and oversight over the Authority’s regulatory functions”.

The plan also involved “a review of primary legislation to strengthen screening, vetting and firearm control requirements within the private security sector”.

KZN connection  

There have been other plans to prevent lawbreaking in the private security industry.

At the same time, suspected crimes linked to the sector and firearms have recently been investigated.

Some of this is connected to KwaZulu-Natal.

Allegations made by the province’s police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, led to the formation of the Madlanga Commission and a parliamentary ad hoc committee that is covering the same ground.

Read more: R200m cocaine theft from KZN Hawks office may tie police to global drug traffickers

Mkhwanazi’s allegations included that Matlala was financially backing the political ambitions of the police minister at the time, Senzo Mchunu.

Mchunu denied any wrongdoing.

Daily Maverick reported that earlier this year, Mchunu signed off on proposals to tighten firearm controls in the private security sector, which was met with pushback from the industry and praise from gun-control advocates.

About four months after that, Mchunu was placed on special leave because of Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

Western Cape and AK-47s 

Back to private security and firearm issues.

On 22 September, police in the Western Cape announced that an intelligence-driven operation had been conducted at a flat in the Cape Town suburb of Bellville.

Six AK-47 rifles, eight 9mm pistols and ammunition were seized.

“According to preliminary information, the firearms had been transported from KwaZulu-Natal to Cape Town,” said Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut.

Eight suspects were arrested for illegally possessing guns because, according to Traut, they were “unable to produce valid firearm licences or permits for the weapons”.

#sapsWC #SAPS Provincial Operational Coordination Combat Team conducted an intell driven op early this morning at a flat in Bellville, where they searched a premises and confiscated a significant consignment of firearms.

According to preliminary information, the firearms had… pic.twitter.com/1rqdUsm1ni

— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) September 22, 2025

However, the suspects were released from custody before appearing in court due to issues related to further investigations. (Traut told Daily Maverick last week that the suspects were released, “due to the case not being enrolled at court”.)

This sparked concern among sources with knowledge of policing and private security.

Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile told eNCA that the suspects worked for security companies.

“So, it’s not a question that we don’t know where to find them,” he said.

‘Firearms flowing to crime networks’ 

Daily Maverick established the names of two KwaZulu-Natal security companies that appeared to be linked to the case.

A few days after the firearms were seized, Parliament’s police committee chair, Ian Cameron, issued a statement expressing his concern.

“The most alarming development is that all of the suspects, described internally as KZN hitmen on their way to Nyanga taxi rank [in Cape Town], have now been released,” he said.

It is known that hitmen move between provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, and this is sometimes linked to taxi industry violence.

In January, a taxi guard was killed and seven others were wounded in a shootout that apparently involved two security companies in Nyanga that were headquartered in KZN.

As for the release of the arrested suspects, Cameron said, “This is not a technical error. It suggests interference, evidence tampering or firearms flowing back into criminal networks.”

Read more: ‘Private militias’ warning after Cape Town taxi shootout

Western Cape police subsequently issued a statement saying everything was above board.

Responding to queries on the matter last week, Traut said: “The investigation … is still under way and the confiscated firearms are in the possession of SAPS.”

But Daily Maverick has ascertained that concerns remain about what exactly happened to the suspects and the firearms.

Requests for comment 

On Tuesday, 7 October, Daily Maverick emailed questions to two Psira communication officers about what had surfaced in the Madlanga Commission, as well as issues tying firearms from KwaZulu-Natal to the Western Cape, including the 22 September firearm seizure in Cape Town.

Two days later, Psira spokesperson Bonang Kleinbooi referred Daily Maverick to Psira’s statement released that day about its broad action plan linked to investigations into Matlala.

Daily Maverick pointed out that Psira had not responded to this journalist’s specific questions about firearms from KwaZulu-Natal being channelled to Cape Town.

Kleinbooi said a colleague had replied to this journalist on 12 September — but this was in relation to a previous Daily Maverick query and was 10 days before the Cape Town firearm seizure.

Daily Maverick again asked Kleinbooi for a response to the questions about private security firearms moving from KwaZulu-Natal to the Western Cape.

None was received by the time of publication.

The Madlanga Commission and the parallel parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration in law enforcement will resume on Monday, 13 October. DM