Matlala’s ties to tenderpreneur opens new Tembisa Hospital procurement trail

During his second consecutive day of testimony before the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday, 25 August, a new layer emerged in Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s evidence as his longstanding business relationship with tender tycoon Hangwani Morgan Maumela came under scrutiny, potentially opening a link between their medical equipment dealings and the wider Tembisa Hospital procurement scandal.

Matlala has moved beyond simply acknowledging that he knew Maumela, describing a joint medical-equipment business dating back to around 2018/19, when the two pooled money to pursue a Gauteng Department of Health request for quotations (RFQs) for medical equipment and shared profits.

The evidence comes as Matlala continues to invoke his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination on questions linked to ongoing investigations. 

On Monday, the commission began testing the limits of that claim, pressing Matlala to explain how answering specific questions could incriminate him rather than allowing him to rely on a blanket refusal.

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Matlala’s evidence about Maumela carries particular weight because of Maumela’s central role in alleged corruption at Tembisa Hospital, where the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered more than R2-billion in irregular payments.

The Tembisa investigation also forms part of the wider story surrounding the assassination of whistleblower Babita Deokaran on 23 August 2021, who had raised concerns about suspicious procurement at the hospital before she was killed.

The scale of the alleged network has since become clearer. In October 2025, the SIU raided Maumela’s Sandhurst home and seized luxury vehicles, including three Lamborghinis. More recently, the State obtained a R326-million forfeiture order involving assets linked to the alleged Tembisa Hospital corruption network, including luxury vehicles and properties.

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Three of Matlala’s companies secured about R13.5-million through an alleged corrupt procurement network, according to an investigation into the “Maumela Syndicate” involved in the Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal.

From cars to medical contracts

Evidence leader advocate Mahlape Sello SC asked how Matlala and Maumela’s relationship developed and whether it included financial or business dealings.

Matlala said they met around 2015/16 through their shared passion for sports cars, initially meeting at a Sandton restaurant before their friendship developed into a business relationship.

“We started our relationship because of the love of cars,” Matlala said.

But the relationship soon moved beyond cars. Matlala told the commission that he and Maumela jointly submitted RFQs, pooling money to buy medical equipment required to fulfil successful bids and later sharing the profits.

The first RFQ was in 2018, from the Gauteng Department of Health, for medical consumables. Matlala said their successful bids over about three years were collectively worth less than R5-million.

He explained that each man contributed about R1-million to the pool. When one of them secured an RFQ, money was drawn from the pool to purchase what was needed to fulfil the contract. Once the contract was paid, the money returned to the pool, with the profit.

Under questioning from Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Matlala said the profit was calculated at 10%.

The arrangement, he explained, effectively operated as a revolving fund, with money being placed into a supplier account, used to obtain medical equipment on credit and replenished as contracts were completed and profits generated.

Matlala said this arrangement ran from 2018/19 until 2023, and identified Telox as the main supplier they used during the period.

‘Under investigation’

The evidence becomes more significant because Maumela is a central figure in the SIU’s investigation into alleged corruption at Tembisa Hospital, while companies associated with both men have featured in Gauteng health procurement.

But Matlala became increasingly cautious when Sello pressed him for details, repeatedly invoking the possibility that he could become the subject of an investigation.

When asked why he could not name another person or company involved in the arrangement, Matlala said: “Just in case, chances are that I might be investigated. We cannot rule out that I might be investigated.”

He later said: “I’m being investigated, the thing is, I cannot prove it.”

Sello challenged this, pointing out that Matlala had previously undertaken to produce evidence that he was under investigation, but the document he provided did not state that he was under investigation in relation to Maumela.

“You are either under investigation or not. Thus far you haven’t established that you are,” Sello told him.

Matlala disagreed, saying he had been told this by the then national director of public prosecutions.

Justice Madlanga then appeared to question the foundation of Matlala’s claim. Looking at the arrangement Matlala had described – money being pooled, deposited with a supplier, used to fulfil contracts and returned with a profit – the commission chairperson said nothing in the evidence before him immediately suggested criminality.

“Nothing jumps out of your testimony to tell me, here is the criminality,” Madlanga said, adding that he found it difficult to understand why Matlala maintained that he was under investigation.

Chats link taxi boss

Matlala has previously testified about his relationship with the late taxi boss Jothan “Mswazi” Msibi. Before his death, Msibi was allegedly the leader of the “Big Five” cartel, to which Matlala has been linked.

On Tuesday, Sello introduced WhatsApp exchanges that appeared to show the two men discussing aircraft purchases, bank accounts, large payments and loans – with links to Maumela.

Sello confronted Matlala with an October 2020 chat in which Msibi sent him an aircraft purchase agreement. Matlala said he had been interested in buying an aircraft after learning that one was for sale, and had spoken to Msibi about it.

But Sello pointed out that the agreement was between the seller and a company called Alpha and neither Matlala nor Msibi was a party to it.

“So how would Msibi have exercised his interest in buying an aircraft by seeing this agreement?” Sello asked.

Matlala later said Msibi had simply shown him the agreement because they were discussing the aircraft, and that the proposed sale ultimately did not proceed.

Then, in a 2 September 2022 chat, Msibi asked Matlala: “Must I send the Nedbank one?”

Matlala told the commission that the Nedbank document was proof of payment.

Sello then took Matlala through messages in which he appeared to provide Msibi with bank account details, telling him that “this is the account that Morgan” had instructed him to use to deposit money – Morgan apparently being a reference to Hangwani Morgan Maumela.

A similar exchange involved an FNB account. Sello put it to Matlala that he had given Msibi an account into which a deposit was to be made, based on information supplied by Maumela.

Matlala said he believed the payments related to security services at Msibi’s wedding, and that money had been paid into his account for that purpose.

But the financial trail became more intriguing when Sello turned to a November 2023 exchange involving a photograph of a Pagani Huayra Roadster, a luxury car associated with Maumela. The chat appeared to indicate that Maumela wanted to sell the vehicle and that Msibi was being asked to help find a buyer.

Proof of payment exchanges

Sello then produced records showing three payments on 22 September 2023 to Agrippa AM Khoza, with the recipient reference “M Maumela”: R1.3-million, R200,000 and R3-million, as well as another payment of R500,000.

Sello questioned Matlala about his apparent role in facilitating proof of payment to Msibi and how he knew the payments were from Maumela.

Matlala said the recipient reference suggested Maumela was the payer, but could not explain where the proof of payment had come from, saying the records were on Msibi’s phone.

That prompted Sello to press the central question: why was Matlala facilitating or transmitting financial information between Maumela and Msibi?

The exchanges become particularly significant when placed alongside evidence that Msibi had loaned Matlala R5-million to assist with Medicare24, while Matlala was also trying to arrange a further R20-million loan from Msibi.

This is not the only person Matlala approached for a loan to assist with the controversial Medicare24 SAPS contract. He also approached controversial ANC-linked North West businessman Suliman Carrim, who loaned him R15-million.

Matlala will continue testifying on Wednesday. DM