“I no longer remember because I was heavily medicated and undergoing psychiatric treatment at the time.”
These are the words of tender tycoon Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala on Monday as he was confronted with damaging contradictions between his testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and accounts he allegedly gave investigators about a R500,000 payment to former deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and a meeting involving another senior police general, Molefe Fani.
Matlala denied delivering R500,000 to Sibiya’s residence at Copperleaf Golf Estate, despite consultation notes compiled by the commission’s senior investigator Bongani Dlamini. According to Dlamini’s recording, Matlala said he withdrew the money from his companies and is taking it to Sibiya.
He denied ever meeting General Fani, although the alleged encounter appeared in both his Section 204 statement that was compiled by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) and the commission’s own consultation notes.
When evidence leader advocate Adila Hassim questioned the accuracy of the earlier accounts, he suggested that investigators had fabricated information.
READ: Cat Matlala’s tender fraud case on hold pending review application
The disputed R500,000 payment
When Hassim questioned Matlala about payments to Sibiya, he maintained that the only payment he had made was R50,000.
“I did not give Sibiya any money except a 50k that I gave him when we were at the SAPS awards,” he told the commission.
Matlala acknowledged transferring R500,000 to an individual identified during the proceedings as Given Magofani but insisted that the money had not been intended for Sibiya.
“Yes, there are 500,000, I transferred to Mr. Magofani. But he is my friend,” he said.
Hassim, however, took him to consultation notes from a meeting with the commission’s investigative team at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre on March 27, 2026.
The notes, compiled by senior investigator Dlamini, recorded that Matlala had allegedly told investigators that he withdrew R500,000 from his companies, Medicare24 and Or Lux Africa, after the health risk management tender was awarded.
According to the notes, the money was withdrawn before he had received payment, and he had to borrow it.
He allegedly told investigators that he took the money to Sibiya’s residence at Copperleaf Golf Estate to give it to him.
The notes also recorded that Sibiya told him the contract was something people would fight over.
Hassim pointed out that this account directly contradicted Matlala’s evidence that he had never paid Sibiya the R500,000.
Matlala disputed the notes and suggested that investigators had made up the information.
Two accounts of an alleged meeting with Fani
The questioning also turned to an alleged meeting between Matlala, Sibiya and General Fani at Sibiya’s residence.
Matlala dismissed this and insisted that he had never met Fani.
But Hassim produced the commission investigator’s consultation notes, which also recorded an account of Fani being present in the entertainment area of Sibiya’s residence.
She questioned how the same specific details could have appeared in two separate records if Matlala had never described the encounter.
READ: Cat Matlala and wife’s R95k Waterkloof lease fraud case on hold till February
Matlala suggested that the person who recorded the consultation might have confused the names.
“Because when he says I saw general Fani, I’ve never made fine in my life,” he said.
Matlala blames heavy medication for memory gaps
When commissioner Sandile Khumalo asked whether he had volunteered information about Sibiya during the March consultation, Matlala acknowledged that they had discussed Sibiya but said he could not recall precisely what he had told investigators.
“Maybe I was drunk. I don’t know. I was heavily under psychiatric treatment,” he said.
“Maybe when you’re in that condition, truth comes easy,” Khumalo responded.
Matlala maintained that he could not remember giving investigators the account of the alleged R500,000 payment and meeting with Fani.
He also suggested that the information might have originated from an earlier consultation with IDAC investigators.
“I honestly don’t know what happened,” he said.
- “I no longer remember because I was heavily medicated and undergoing psychiatric treatment at the time.” These are the words of tender tycoon Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala on Monday as he was confronted with damaging contradictions between his testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and accounts he allegedly gave investigators about a R500,000 payment to former deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and a meeting involving another senior police general, Molefe Fani.
- Matlala denied delivering R500,000 to Sibiya’s residence at Copperleaf Golf Estate, despite consultation notes compiled by the commission’s senior investigator Bongani Dlamini.
- According to Dlamini’s recording, Matlala said he withdrew the money from his companies and is taking it to Sibiya.
- He denied ever meeting General Fani, although the alleged encounter appeared in both his Section 204 statement that was compiled by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) and the commission’s own consultation notes.
- When evidence leader advocate Adila Hassim questioned the accuracy of the earlier accounts, he suggested that investigators had fabricated information.
