Alleged drug cartel member Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala told police that he gave suspended deputy national commissioner of police Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya funds from the R360-million South African Police Service (SAPS) tender he received in 2024.
This information was revealed by Witness C on Friday at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System.
Part of Friday’s proceedings at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria took place in camera.
Witness C said he is a member of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team (PKTT) and a certified forensic investigator specialising in fraud and corruption investigations.
He said he joined the PKTT in May 2020 and was deployed on December 2, 2024, to assist the Gauteng organised crime unit with its investigations.
During his testimony, Witness C said that on December 6, 2024, while police were searching for kidnapped Pretoria businessman Jerry Boshoga at Matlala’s Midstream Ridge house in Centurion, Pretoria, Matlala approached the police and told them he has a tender with the SAPS and he has the cellphone numbers of senior police officers.
Witness C said Matlala told police that Sibiya and KZN Hawks head Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona helped him bag the R360-million SAPS tender.
The tender was terminated by national commissioner of police General Fannie Masemola in May 2025.
Sibiya received portion of money
“He [Matlala] told us he is related to Senona. He started dropping names of senior cops and told us he has their cellphone numbers.
“He showed us the numbers of Sibiya, [SAPS national head of organised crime Richard] Shibiri, and Major-General Feroz Khan on his cellphone. We never asked him about his tender.
“I think he told us about his tender and the number of senior police officers he has so that he can intimidate us and show us he is connected to them,” said Witness C.
Khan heads the counter and security intelligence of the SAPS.
“Mr Matlala told us that after each payment to him for his SAPS tender, a portion of the money he received would go to Sibiya,” said Witness C.
The commission resumes on Monday at 9.30am with the continuation of Witness C’s testimony.
Meanwhile, Matlala (49), his wife Tsakani (36), two alleged hitmen Musa Kekana (35) and Tiego Floyd Mabusela (47), and Nthabiseng Nzama (23), who is the daughter of Mabusela, have been charged with the October 2023 attempted murder of Tebogo Thobejane.
Thobejane, a famous television actress and influencer, is Matlala’s ex-lover.
The five accused are facing various charges, including but not limited to attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, money laundering, and defeating the ends of justice in connection with the alleged hit on Thobejane.
Bail appeal judgment
During their previous appearance at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on October 7, magistrate Renier Boshoff postponed the matter to November 11 for the centralisation of two additional dockets received from Pretoria and to facilitate the transfer of the case to the Johannesburg High Court.
The three counts of attempted murder the accused are facing are in connection with the injuries sustained by Thobejane and her friends Anele Malinga and Khumbulani Ncube from the alleged hit.
On the night of October 17, 2023, the black BMW vehicle that Thobejane, Malinga and Ncube were travelling in was sprayed with a hail of bullets at the corner of Bryanston and Wilton Drive in Bryanston, Sandton, Johannesburg.
The shooting occurred between 10pm and 10.30pm.
Thobejane was shot in the foot, while Malinga was shot in the spinal cord. Malinga has been left paralysed.
Tsakani and Nzama are out on R20 000 and R10 000 bail, respectively. Kekana, Mabusela and Matlala remain under police custody. Kekana and Mabusela abandoned their bail applications.
The Alexandra Magistrate’s Court denied Matlala bail in September. He has appealed the bail decision at the Johannesburg High Court.
The high court will hand down judgment on his bail appeal today or on Monday.
