On Wednesday, KZN Police Chief Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi released another shocking revelation about the troubled and suspended Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu.
Mkhwanazi told Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee probing corruption, capture and political interference in the criminal justice system that he was now convinced that Mchunu is directly linked to attempted-murder accused and controversial businessman Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Mkhwanazi presented the committee with a handwritten letter from a former cellmate of Matlala at the Kgosi Mapuru II prison in Tshwane, containing astonishing revelations.
Matlala’s cellmate ‘wrote down’ revelations
The prisoner detailed how Mchunu allegedly coerced Matlala into denying knowing him in an affidavit that Mchunu presented to the committee during his appearance.
In what could be seen as Mkhwanazi’s attempt to hit the final nail into Mchunu’s political coffin, he said the prisoner’s letter was credible because he shared a cell with Matlala and that the version could be verified through the prison visitor’s registry, among other things.
The letter also claims that Matlala communicated with Mchunu through, among others, Mchunu’s lawyers and Matlala’s wife.
‘Cat was telling him things’
Mkhwanazi apparently obtained the letter from MKP National Organiser and father to Nhlamulo, Joe Ndhlela. It was addressed to MKP National Spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela.
“This person was in the same correctional facility (Kgosi Mampuru) with Matlala, and they interacted throughout. What I gathered is that it was just the two of them in the cell,” said Mkhwanazi.
“Cat was telling him things, and he would take a pen and paper and write things without Cat knowing. What he writes here are stories that Cat told him inside that correctional centre.
“The things mentioned here are matters I was not aware of. One of them is that I did not know how the minister obtained Cat’s affidavit that he presented here. This person wrote things that had not been made public, both here and in the Madlanga Commission.
‘Relationship between Cat and Minister Mchunu seems to be direct’
“Part of why I am giving this letter to this committee is because he explains how the affidavit was obtained. The relationship between Cat and Minister Mchunu seems to be direct, not indirect through people like Mister (Brown) Mogotsi, as we initially thought.”
The prisoner detailed how he had, in September last year, experienced a visit to Matlala by Mchunu’s lawyers. When they returned to their cell, he asked Matlala what the visit was about.
Matlala reportedly responded by revealing how he met with the lawyers to sign an affidavit refuting his knowledge of Mchunu.
‘Mchunu was happy with the affidavit’
According to the letter, Matlala told his cellmate that his wife had transmitted a message that Mchunu was happy with the affidavit and that he had told the wife to tell him to sit tight and that “help is coming”.
Matlala’s cellmate, Mkhwanazi, told the committee he had decided to take notes because he was totally in the dark about what was happening outside after the famous 6 July media briefing, and Matlala told him that Mchunu was a police minister.
The cellmate also wrote about how Maltala told him that he was funding Mchunu’s ANC presidential bid and his attempted murder case, how close he was to suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, and how Sibiya had coerced him to open a case against Mkhwanazi.
Mkhwanazi met with Matlala in Umhlanga Rocks
Mkhwanazi also told MPs about what transpired in a meeting he had with Matlala at The Pearls Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks in eThekwini.
KZN Hawks head Lt. Gen. Lesetja Senona had apparently organised the meeting. Senona told him that Matlala was his childhood friend despite the massive age gap between the two men.
‘Matlala threw his friends under the bus’
At the meeting, Mkhwanazi testified that Matlala threw his friends, such as Sibiya, under the bus. He revealed how Sibiya had apparently bought properties from the proceeds of crime and that he had bought Sibiya impalas.
“I was well aware when they (Matlala and Senona) were giving me this information that they were snitching on their crew, which includes General Sibiya and Steve Motsumi. ”
He said he had told crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo about everything Matlala had shared with him about Sibiya at the meeting.
