Illustrative image, from left: Suliman Carrim (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) | Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) | Taxis (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla) Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Monday, 17 August 2026, that he became close to controversial ANC-linked North West businessman Suliman Carrim because they both visited the late taxi boss Jothan Msibi.
Some police officers have alleged that ahead of his death in 2024, Msibi was the head of a cartel known as the Big Five, which they have said is involved in criminality ranging from illicit drugs to cash-in-transit heists and which has infiltrated the state, politics and private sector.
Matlala’s testimony on Monday on Carrim, from whom he also said he secured a R15-million loan, now indirectly links the North West businessman to those gritty allegations.
MADLANGA COMMISSION | Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala confirms he knows Suliman Carrim and says he approached him to request funding for his company, Medicare 24 Tshwane. pic.twitter.com/zTVyKsuFIG
— SABC News (@SABCNews) August 17, 2026
It was Matlala’s first testimony in the witness seat at the Madlanga Commission, and the proceedings focused on his connections to, and interactions with, various police officers and controversial people.
Matlala is set to be called back to the commission again next week.
While he provided several responses to questions during Monday’s proceedings, he also repeatedly said: “I do not want to incriminate myself.”
Cast of characters
Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala: business ties to the security and health sector, but now facing various criminal charges and accusations that he is a member of a cartel known as the Big Five, and has corrupt relationships with certain police officers.
Jothan Msibi: one of the country’s foremost taxi bosses who allegedly headed the Big Five cartel before he died in 2024.
Suliman Carrim: an ANC-linked businessman from North West whose connections and companies have come under scrutiny. He loaned money to Matlala who said Carrim, like him, used to visit Msibi.
‘Self-incrimination privilege has limits’
Matlala used this line several times, trying to assert his privilege against self-incrimination.
At one point, evidence leader advocate Mahlape Sello appeared to be fed up when Matlala repeated the line, telling him: “This fear of self-incrimination has limits in law and life.”
Despite his stance against self-incrimination, Matlala came across as self-assured throughout his long-anticipated testimony.
At times he corrected or interrupted Sello when he felt she was not accurately referencing details or when he was unsure of certain aspects she was addressing.
‘Cat’ and the criminal charges
In one case, Matlala and several co-accused face multiple charges, including attempted murder, that are linked to three shootings between August 2022 and January 2024.
Earlier this year, the National Prosecuting Authority issued a statement saying: “The State further alleges that the accused were involved in orchestrating a shooting, subsequently laundering money linked to the alleged plot, and utilising a fraudulent invoice to conceal the source of the funds and mislead the court.”
In another case, Matlala faces criminal charges linked to his company Medicare 24 Tshwane District, which was controversially awarded a R228-million health services policing tender in 2024. Several police officers, including now suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, also face charges in this case. Matlala tried securing a plea and sentencing agreement with the State in this matter, but this fell through.
Matlala testified while he remains in State custody facing several criminal charges, including attempted murder, fraud and money laundering, in cases that are yet to conclude.
His name became prominent in South Africa’s law enforcement implosion when KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi held a press conference in July last year and made staggering accusations that a cartel, later identified as the Big Five, had infiltrated the state.
/file/attachments/orphans/images32_687532.jpg "Jothan Zanemvula Msibi. (Photo: Expand&Explore Taxi Media / Facebook)")
Matlala was subsequently accused of being a member of the Big Five, while Msibi was identified as its head.
Mkhwanazi also alleged that Matlala was funding the political ambitions of the now-sidelined police minister Senzo Mchunu, who denied the allegation (and who was subsequently placed on special leave).
Matlala testified at the commission on Monday: “I have never met Minister Mchunu and have had no interactions with him, nor have I been at any gatherings where he was present.”
‘Cash from Carrim’
Back to Carrim.
During Monday’s proceedings, Matlala said both he and Carrim had private security companies, and knew Msibi.
Matlala said around July or August 2024, he had approached Carrim with a “request for funding” of R15-million.
“The agreement was done orally,” Matlala said.
“I did not have to persuade him.”
Private (in)security
Sidelined national Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo previously testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that to climb the ranks, Big Five cartel members recruited criminal justice officials. He explained that as a secondary step in the cartel, members registered businesses. Khumalo had said: “In most cases, it’s private security companies that are the initial businesses for the members of the cartel that have just joined. There are lots of reasons for that, including access to firearms.”
The loan was linked to Matlala’s company Medicare 24 Tshwane District, which in 2024 was dubiously awarded a R228-million health services policing tender that has since been cancelled.
Matlala was especially hesitant to testify about issues linked to the Medicare matter on Monday.
Along with a dozen senior police officers and suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, he faces criminal charges in connection with this ongoing scandal.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_599498_254673.jpg "Businessman Carrim Suliman testifies at Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. (Photo: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)")
As for Carrim, he was previously meant to continue testifying at the Madlanga Commission after starting earlier this year, but a doctor deemed him medically unfit to do so.
He was spotted shopping and eating out in Cape Town last month, and the commission failed to have him to undergo an independent medical assessment.
This culminated in the commission announcing last week that it would lodge a criminal complaint against Carrim, as he may have breached the Commissions Act.
Matlala, while testifying on Monday, could not recall how much of the loan he still needed to repay Carrim.
It was while Matlala was relaying how he came to know Carrim that he told the commission: “He also used to come and visit Mr Msibi at his farm and then because he will see me there now and then, we ended up being close.”
Matlala, however, did not want to go into too much detail about Carrim and related issues, at one stage reading from a statement prepared for the commission and then announcing, “I am of the view that any further comments beyond that which I have provided may lead to self-incrimination.”
Msibi and Motsumi... and more money
The commission also focused on Msibi.
Matlala said his security company Cat VIP Protection “previously provided security services” to Msibi.
Asked if he and Msibi had been friends, Matlala elicited some laughter when he responded: “He was a very old man. He was not my friend.”
Msibi had called him “son”, but had not meant it literally.
Matlala said he was “close” to Msibi in a professional sense.
Another rather mysterious individual, Steve Motsumi, was mentioned during Monday’s proceedings.
Previously, it emerged that some police officers seemed afraid to mention Motsumi, whose name has surfaced alongside Big Five accusations, but who has not been formally identified as allegedly being part of it.
Matlala testified on Monday that Motsumi’s company “advanced one of my companies” R5-million.
Sello, after hearing about the money Matlala had accessed via Carrim and Motsumi, quipped that she was “quite jealous of the friendships that you have.”
Met Mkhwanazi but ‘don’t know Khan’
Matlala’s connections (alleged and otherwise) to police officers were also unpacked on Monday.
Sello asked Matlala to elaborate on his dealings with KZN police commissioner Mkhwanazi, the officer who initially made strong accusations against him in July last year.
Matlala confirmed he met Mkhwanazi once in Durban in early 2025, but said he did “not have any relationship with him”.
“I asked for the meeting,” Matlala testified.
He said that the meeting was about the now-cancelled Medicare 24 Tshwane District policing contract and that Mkhwanazi spoke about an arrest warrant against Matlala.
/file/attachments/2994/feroz_khan_20260630061322_102365.jpeg "Crime Intelligence deputy head Major General Feroz Khan.(Photo: Gallo Images/OJ Koloti)")
Matlala declined to go into further detail about the meeting because it related to the Medicare scandal, which was before a court.
Sello also asked Matlala about embattled Crime Intelligence officer Feroz Khan, who was wounded in a shooting at the end of June shortly before he was due to testify before the Madlanga Commission, where several accusations have been made against him.
Matlala insisted on Monday that “I do not have any relationship with Major General Khan.”
He said he had never met Khan.
‘My friend Maumela’
Matlala confirmed to the commission that he was friendly with a businessman, Hangwani Morgan Maumela, and had “previously conducted business” with him.
Maumela had at one stage been a director at Matlala’s Cat VIP Protection company.
His name has surfaced in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into mass looting at Gauteng’s Tembisa Hospital.
Last year, an SIU statement said: “The SIU has traced 41 suppliers or service providers linked to Maumela; three of the companies that were awarded contracts to the value of R13 538 292 in this syndicate are linked to Vusimuzi Matlala.”
Matlala did not divulge too many details about Maumela at the Madlanga Commission on Monday, again citing “self-incrimination” issues. DM
What next?
More witnesses are expected to testify before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, which aims to wrap up its hearings by early October 2026. It will then complete a report on the hearings, which will be presented to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
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