Proceedings at this week’s Madlanga Commission were dominated by unsubstantiated claims from controversial North West businessman and police minister Senzo Mchunu’s comrade Brown Mogotsi.
When Mogotsi took the stand on Tuesday, he started off by saying he has been a registered informant of the South African Police Service (SAPS) since 1999.
Mogotsi said he was an agent of SAPS’s crime intelligence unit and had a handler called Mazibuko and a co-handler whose name he did not want to reveal in public.
He then said KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu of the AmaZulu nation were working for the United States of America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as agents.
“My sources said General Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu were recruited by the American CIA and are actively working for them. The sources said Misuzulu used to live in America and Mkhwanazi was trained by Americans,” said Mogotsi.
He said the sources did not give him any evidence to support what they told him.
John Wick of MamelodiÂ
Mogotsi added that the controversial figure known as “John Wick” is alleged drug cartel member and attempted murder-accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
John Wick was a nickname coined around 2021 and given to an unknown gunman who was terrorising Pretoria communities and targeting Boko Haram gang members in Mamelodi.
Mogotsi said in October 2018, SAPS crime intelligence members gave a presentation to former police minister Bheki Cele about Boko Haram gang and John Wick.
“The presentation was six pages [long] and it showed the face of John Wick, his picture, ID number, previous convictions. John Wick is Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala,” said Mogotsi.
Mogotsi said Cele knew in 2018 when he was still police minister that Matlala is the figure referred to as John Wick.
In addition, Mogotsi said after police conducted a search operation at Matlala’s Centurion house in December 2024, Matlala called him and told him he was “angry” with Cele and National Commissioner of Police General Fannie Masemola.
Millions handed out to police top brassÂ
“Matlala said he is angry with the way Masemola and Cele are treating him. He said Masemola asked him for R25 million from the R360 million SAPS health tender he got, but he only gave him R5 million. He said he gave Bheki Cele R2 million from the R8 million he asked for,” said Mogotsi.
Mogotsi added that Matlala told him he gave money as well to Mkhwanazi.
“Matlala called me the day General Mkhwanazi held a media briefing on 6 July 2025. This is the day Matlala was caught with a cellphone in his prison cell. Matlala said he was angry after watching Mkhwanazi’s briefing.
“He said he met Mkhwanazi in his house in Durban and gave him money. He said he is angry Mkhwanazi could speak like that about him in the media briefing even after giving him money,” said Mogotsi.
Meanwhile, Mogotsi confirmed that Matlala paid for the flights, accommodation and entertainment of eight ANC members linked to Mogotsi so that they could attend the ANC’s January 8 Statement presidential gala dinner that took place in Cape Town on January 10 this year.
Mogotsi said Matlala paid R149 000 for the flights, accommodation and entertainment of the said ANC members.
He said the R149 000 was paid into the bank account of a company called Kgohle, which is owned by Mogotsi’s fiancée.
Mogotsi’s testimony was led by the commission’s chief evidence leader Adv Matthew Chaskalson SC on Tuesday.
Caught in a string of liesÂ
Chaskalson cross-examined Mogotsi on Wednesday and Thursday, wherein Mogotsi admitted that he was making statements without presenting evidence.
Mogotsi’s testimony was halted on Thursday and will continue at a new date to be set by the commission.
Mogotsi was testifying under Phase Two of the commission’s work, which is a chance to give persons of interest – individuals who have been implicated in Phase One – the opportunity to place before the commission their version and/or response to the allegations made by Mkhwanazi during his testimony as the commission’s first witness in September.
The commission resumes this coming Tuesday with a new witness expected to take the stand.
The commission, which is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, is sitting at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
