KZN Hawks boss grilled for sharing SAPS officers’ personal details with ‘Cat’ Matlala

Shocking evidence heard on Wednesday, 28 January at the Madlanga Commission revealed that KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona allegedly shared with organised crime accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala a police docket linked to a civil claim against the South African Police Service (SAPS) by alleged Mozambican kidnapper Esmael Nangy.

The SAPS docket included an affidavit and several annexures containing the identity numbers, cellphone numbers and identity photos of six members of the KwaZulu-Natal Hawks – Senona’s subordinates – as well as provincial members of Crime Intelligence.

This forms part of a string of serious claims under which Senona buckled, failing to provide the commission with satisfactory answers. Among them was his assertion that, despite his senior police rank, he was unaware that Matlala, whom he described as a “younger brother”, was implicated in the R2.3-billion Tembisa Hospital scandal.

Senona also faced claims that he supported Matlala in pursuing litigation against the SAPS after the termination of his R360-million Medicare24 contract with the police service. The commission also heard that he shared a news article suggesting that KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was not applying for the position of Hawks head.

This emerged during the second day of Senona’s testimony at the commission. On Tuesday, Senona was grilled over a meeting he allegedly arranged and attended with Matlala and Mkhwanazi on 15 April 2025.

Read more: KZN Hawks boss details ‘Cat’ Matlala’s meeting with Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi

The Nangy docket

The issue of the Nangy docket stems from a News24 article that cited a confidential police report allegedly linking a consultant who apparently helped secure the release of a kidnap victim to the alleged kidnapping kingpin, Nangy.

However, the affidavit and its annexures were not embedded in the article, a point the commission grappled with as it pressed Senona on why he sent the SAPS docket on the matter to Matlala, an alleged criminal implicated in serious offences.

The commission heard that after a meeting with Matlala at the Menlyn Maine Hotel in Pretoria on 5 March 2025, Senona allegedly sent the SAPS docket to Matlala later that evening.

His explanation for sending the docket to Matlala was widely criticised. Senona claimed that after reading Nangy’s affidavit, he noted that he was living in the same complex as Matlala and sent the docket to “sensitise” him to the fact that there was an individual of that nature residing there.

“After reading the affidavit, I warned Matlala that an alleged kidnapper and extortionist was living in his estate. Nangy was staying in the same complex as him,” he told the commission.

When questioned by evidence leader Adila Hassim SC on why the News24 article on the case was not sufficient to share with Matlala, and why he instead sent the police docket, Senona replied that, at the time, after reading the article, he simply forwarded the document to Matlala once he had seen it.

Hassan stressed that the purpose of a top-secret security clearance was to determine whether an individual was trustworthy enough to be entrusted with highly sensitive, classified information.

When asked whether this was the case, Senona agreed, confirming that such clearance existed precisely because those granted it came into direct contact with classified material and must therefore be beyond reproach.

Commissioner Sesi Baloyi SC did not mince her words over his sharing the personal information of SAPS, Hawks and Crime Intelligence officials with Matlala.

“You share personal information, you are a police officer. You make it appear this is all benign and it is nothing. I find it very difficult to accept that there is an innocent explanation for sharing this bundle with Matlala. It is more sinister than you [are] prepared to share with us,” Baloyi said.

After hours of intense grilling, Senona told the commission that he would accept no wrongdoing on his part, conceding only that it may have been an oversight that he failed to read the entire document before sending it to Matlala.

Tembisa Hospital ignorance

Another contentious issue arose over Senona’s explanation concerning the murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran, whose killing followed her exposure of corrupt practices at Tembisa Hospital.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has revealed a sprawling network of corruption, maladministration and procurement fraud at Tembisa Hospital, involving three major syndicates responsible for looting more than R2-billion in public funds.

Deokaran was killed on 23 August 2021 in Gauteng while she was investigating the corruption. The accused, Phakamani Vincent Hadebe, Nhlangane Phinda Ndlovu, Sanele Mbhele, Siphakanyiswa Dladla, Zitha Radebe and Siphiwe Thabane Mazibuko, faced charges of murder, attempted murder and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. They pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2023.

Senona told the commission that he was aware only that Deokaran had been murdered and that the perpetrators had been sentenced. He maintained that he was never aware that Matlala, with whom he was in close contact, featured in allegations linked to the Tembisa Hospital looting.

“Matlala never came to my attention, and the issue that his company was linked to this exposure by a whistleblower who was murdered — may her soul rest in peace — I did not know that,” Senona said.

However, evidence leader Hassim and the commissioners indicated that they found this explanation difficult to accept, noting that the Tembisa Hospital looting scandal — and Matlala’s alleged role in it — was nationally reported.

Another issue that raised eyebrows relates to an incident on 13 May 2025, when Senona sent a letter to Matlala from National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola that terminated Matlala’s R360-million Medicare24 contract with SAPS.

In the letter, Masemola is quoted as stating: “SAPS has judged that your company abused supply chain management. Given the seriousness of this matter, SAPS hereby terminates the contract with immediate effect.”

Senona and Matlala exchanged WhatsApp messages on the matter that further raised concern. Senona told Matlala that the termination of the contract was “sad news”. When Matlala responded that his lawyer had advised him to institute legal action, Senona is alleged to have replied: “Take them on, brother.”

The commission viewed this as a serious indictment, noting that it reflected a senior police officer encouraging an alleged criminal associate to sue another organ of state. DM