After the Bell: Jeffrey Epstein, ‘Cat’ Matlala and the networks of power and influence

Whenever I go to some kind of business event, whether it involves my own industry or a more general business-type shindig, I sometimes feel a sense of anticipation ahead of the “networking”.

I think it’s human to anticipate meeting new people with interests similar to yours.

But it’s also about the anticipation of new professional relationships that can lead to more business (or money, frankly).

And I often wonder how close we can get to people with whom we’re involved in business.

Have you ever poured your heart out about that difficult child, or some personal issue, to someone you really only know professionally? Or asked someone you knew professionally for help in a way that was deeply personal?

It seems strange but I suspect this happens all the time.

Last week, listening to the way KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Lesetja Senona came to know Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala was fascinating.

He said he met him at a wedding, and that it was his “humble nature” that attracted him to Matlala. Before he knew it, he was like “my brother”, and Senona’s son was doing business with Matlala.

This seems to have been Matlala’s modus operandi.

Something similar happened with the suspended head of the Metro police in Ekurhuleni, Julius Mkhwanazi.

Clearly Matlala was very good at making other men feel that they were like “brothers”. It’s a phrase that has come through again and again during all of these police inquiries.

He reminds me a lot of Jeffrey Epstein.

From the pictures that have emerged, Epstein obviously gave people licence to behave like a child, to take their clothes off or do things they wouldn’t normally do.

He allowed them to literally forget morality, that the people around them were people too.

The tone of the communication between him and people like Donald Trump (which includes a letter in which the text is inside a hand drawing of a naked woman) and former British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson shows how close Epstein was to these people.

And in many cases, this was a case of influence, friendship and money.

I sort of expected a lot more to come out about Epstein’s relationships with people, given that these are circles involving high finance in London and New York that you kind of know involve people who are linked to each other.

But I was blown away on Saturday night by Rebecca Davis’s explosive exclusive showing that Jacob Zuma had dinner with Epstein.

What was the link between them? Where had they met before? Why would Zuma, on a relatively short trip to London, agree to meet Epstein? Was a Russian model strictly necessary? What was her contribution to the discussion?

I laughed out loud when I saw Mzwanele Manyi’s claim that Davis’s piece was part of a “smear campaign”.

Can you just imagine, for a moment, what the MK party would do if it emerged that Cyril Ramaphosa had a meeting with Epstein?

It’s entirely legitimate to ask what Zuma and Epstein spoke about. And what the true nature of their relationship was. He was, after all, the sitting President at the time of the dinner.

And, as we all know, Zuma has a history of taking money as a bribe.

But this link between relationships, influence, money, friendship and business is something we all get embroiled in.

When you see someone regularly and you have some kind of financial relationship with them, it is easy for trust to follow.

People facing a particularly difficult personal situation, a child who can’t find a job or get into a tertiary institution, or perhaps even in some kind of financial desperation, can and often do turn to someone they know through work.

I’m always amazed by how people who have very different interests will bond over their children, and if they find out they share a particular difficulty, will actively help each other.

And over the years, as our economy has become so difficult, even for those in the middle class, we all find ourselves turning to certain professional networks.

There was a time when these were seen as “old boys’ clubs”, but I think they’re more accurately described now as people who know each other professionally in some form.

Who wouldn’t take a phone call from a person you’ve known for 20 years and help them out with a child?

And it would never be something obvious, like “can you please give my daughter a job?”

It would be something perfectly acceptable like “I know you work in this field, can my child please come and watch, or intern, or just be in the office over their holidays?”

I think almost all of us would do that – it’s a young person who needs help.

The difference between you and me, and Matlala and Epstein is surely motive.

Most of us want to help someone younger than ourselves. Who doesn’t have a person who helped them when they were young?

Epstein and Matlala wanted access to power, and they flashed around a lot of money to do it.

And left a trail of broken careers, broken lives and, in particular, broken women. DM