Police sergeant Fannie Nkosi told the Madlanga commission of inquiry that alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala had repeatedly complained to senior police officials about delays in payments from the South African Police Service (SAPS) relating to a R360-million contract that was awarded to his company.
Nkosi said Matlala had approached both suspended national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and major general Richard Shibiri about the alleged nonpayment.
During questioning, Nkosi was asked about payment screenshots that Matlala had sent to him, which he later forwarded to Shibiri.
According to Nkosi, the messages were not intended for him.
“The payment screenshots Matlala sent me had nothing to do with me. I do not know why they were sent to me, I simply forwarded them,” he said.
He explained that he passed the messages on to Shibiri because Matlala had previously raised the same complaints with the general.
“I forwarded them to general Shibiri because I believed they were meant for him. Matlala had complained to him before about SAPS payment issues,” Nkosi added.
Nkosi also told the commission that Matlala had contacts within SAPS finance division and would often mention their names when discussing payment matters.
He identified the officials as Glenda Bokaba, a brigadier, and a person he referred to as general Fannie.
The commission further heard that Nkosi forwarded a confidential audit report relating to Matlala’s company to the alleged crime figure.
Nkosi said he had received the document from Sibiya and assumed it was meant to be passed on.
“I forwarded the confidential audit report to Matlala because I assumed I was meant to after receiving it from Sibiya,” Nkosi said.
He added that he already knew the SAPS health services contract, which was being serviced by Matlala, was going to be cancelled before receiving the report.
“I had already seen on Facebook that the contract was going to be cancelled,” he said.
Nkosi maintained that he did not see anything wrong with sharing the document.
“I didn’t see the danger or anything wrong with forwarding the confidential information. The audit report was already on Facebook. When I sent it to Matlala I was only passing a message,” he told the commission.
Nkosi further admitted sending the audit report to Steve Motsumi.
He said the reason was personal because Motsumi had invested money in a company linked to Matlala and Nkosi feared he might lose it.
“I sent the audit report to Steve Motsumi because Matlala owed him money. I wanted to warn him that he might not recover the funds he invested,” he explained.
Nkosi said he was unsure whether Matlala ever repaid the money. He also stated that Motsumi was a family friend of the late taxi industry boss Mswazi Msibi.
The commission heard that Nkosi had met Motsumi on several occasions. While some meetings were related to the matter under investigation, Nkosi described others as social.
“I was mentoring him and teaching him how to ride a motorbike,” Nkosi said.
The commission will continue on Tuesday.
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