Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on 26 August 2026. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) On Wednesday, 26 August, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala faced questions at the Madlanga Commission about his April 2025 meeting with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, which opened a window into an alleged money-collection network around suspended deputy police chief Shadrack Sibiya.
The issue triggered about 30 minutes of intense debate between evidence leader Adila Hassim SC, commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Matlala’s counsel, advocate Annelene van den Heever, over what Matlala could reasonably be expected to answer.
Matlala said Mkhwanazi, during their April 2025 meeting, had asked him whether Sibiya was collecting money from people in Gauteng. Matlala said he acknowledged that Sibiya was collecting money, but refused to identify those allegedly making the payments, repeatedly invoking his right against self-incrimination and maintaining that it formed part of his defence in his criminal trials.
When Hassim pressed him on the source of his information, Matlala dropped a name: “A third person told me that General Sibiya went to collect money. That person was a middleman, a conduit of money... Sergeant Nkosi is the middleman.”
Sergeant Fannie Nkosi has emerged as a key link between the SAPS and several people alleged to have connections to organised crime, with evidence before the commission placing him in the middle of interactions involving Sibiya, Matlala and other figures.
The players
Shadrack Sibiya was suspended in July 2025 amid allegations that he interfered with investigations into politically motivated killings in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly the work of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).
Fannie Nkosi was arrested in 2026 after a raid at his home in Pretoria North. He faces multiple charges after police found firearms, cash hidden under a mattress and six “undetected” case dockets.
Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala has a long history of criminal allegations. He became a successful businessman and won a R360-million police tender before it was cancelled. He allegedly tried to bribe a wide range of cops, as well as sidelined police minister Senzo Mchunu. He faces trial for corruption and multiple attempted murders.
Steve Motsumi is a businessman whose name has been mentioned multiple times at the Madlanga Commission. Few details have emerged, but Mkhwanazi has suggested he is “very prominent” in organised crime circles and may be linked to the Big Five cartel.
Bribes, cash drops and a R2m plot
Despite his denials, Matlala has been implicated in paying Sibiya.
In October 2025, Witness C told the commission that Matlala allegedly paid Sibiya up to R1-million a month in bribes, with the alleged payments including R2-million towards the purchase of a plot and 20 impalas, which have since died.
According to Witness C’s testimony, Matlala, in an interview after his arrest, allegedly described making cash deliveries to Sibiya’s Sandton home. Matlala allegedly said Nkosi, attached to the National Organised Crime unit, then under Sibiya’s command, transported cash for him to Sibiya.
Matlala allegedly gave Sibiya R300,000 when his son married, ostensibly to assist with the celebration.
In January 2025, Matlala allegedly told Witness C that Sibiya had informed him he was buying a plot in Midrand, registered in his wife’s name, for a planned bed-and-breakfast. The alleged purchase price was R2-million, which Matlala claimed he personally handed to Sibiya at his Sandton home.
Sibiya has denied the accusations.
‘Don’t strip me naked’
The allegation that Nkosi acted as a middleman for Sibiya emerged during a lengthy examination of Matlala’s 14 April 2025 meeting with Mkhwanazi, which he attended with former KZN Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona, who resigned in June.
Matlala said he sought the meeting to raise problems he was experiencing with his controversial R360-million Medicare24 SAPS health services contract, which has since become the subject of criminal proceedings in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. The contract was later terminated.
Under sustained questioning, he eventually said he had never paid money to Sibiya, but claimed that he had information that Sibiya was collecting money from people in Gauteng through Nkosi.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ED_582226.jpg "Deputy National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya at the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee inquiry into alleged corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system at Good Hope Chambers on October 13, 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)..")
The questioning then turned to Steve Motsumi, a businessman whose name has repeatedly surfaced in evidence concerning Matlala and Sibiya. Matlala said Mkhwanazi had asked him whether he knew Motsumi, and he replied that he did.
Hassim then pressed him on whether Motsumi paid Sibiya. Matlala initially refused to answer, again saying that his response could incriminate him. Eventually, however, he said: “I don’t know.”
Matlala refused to name who he said was paying Sibiya because it would compromise his defence strategy in his criminal trials.
“I’m already saying a lot here. At least leave me with half, and I can go to court with half, so don’t take everything. You want me to disclose everything. Just don’t strip me naked, please,” he told the commission.
“The way I’ve been arrested, it has to do with my interactions with General Mkhwanazi.”
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo SC responded, “I’m prepared to accept that. My question now is, who are the other people that were paying General Sibiya?”
Matlala continued to stonewall the commission.
Matlala’s defence
At the centre of Matlala’s evidence is his contention that his arrest was linked to the discussion he had with Mkhwanazi in April 2025. He has repeatedly suggested that what was discussed at the meeting forms part of his strategy to challenge his arrest and explain how he came to be charged in the attempted murder case.
Matlala has argued that revealing too much to the commission could undermine his defence in court, particularly his attempt to establish a connection between the April meeting and his subsequent arrest.
On 18 March 2026, Mkhwanazi told Parliament’s ad hoc committee that he recorded his April 2025 meeting with Matlala. The meeting took place at The Pearls in Umhlanga, and Mkhwanazi told the committee that he had initially withheld details of the encounter because it related to investigations involving Gauteng Crime Intelligence.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_600727_321344.jpg "Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee inquiry into alleged corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system at Good Hope Chambers on March 18, 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa. The inquiry was set up to probe political interference, leadership failures, and internal dysfunction in the South African Police Service (SAPS) with a particular focus on allegations raised by Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi about interference within the police command on July 6th. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)")
The recording could now become crucial. Matlala disputes aspects of Mkhwanazi’s account of the meeting, but it could reveal who Matlala told Mkhwanazi was paying Sibiya.
Matlala is expected to return to the commission on a date yet to be determined. DM
Comments
Scroll down to load comments...