Controversial businessman and alleged crime boss Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has accused KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of making veiled threats against him in connection with a cancelled police contract....Click to Read More >>➤

Testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee on police corruption on Wednesday, Matlala said Mkhwanazi warned he would “take care of” him if national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola feared for his life over the scrapped deal.

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The contract in question was a R360 million police tender awarded to Matlala’s company.

The hearings are being held at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria to allow Matlala, who is awaiting trial for attempted murder, to testify from custody.

High-Stakes Meeting Allegedly Arranged by Bheki Cele

Matlala told the committee it was former Police Minister Bheki Cele who arranged the meeting between him and Mkhwanazi to resolve tensions relating to outstanding payments and the cancellation of the multi-million-rand tender, which was terminated at the end of 2024.

According to Matlala, Mkhwanazi linked himself to the tender’s cancellation and suggested that if Masemola felt Matlala might “take him out” over the dispute, he would intervene.

“Mkhwanazi said to me that, he said to national commissioner that, ‘commissioner, if you think that your life is in danger, just say the word, I will take care of this Cat’. I asked him what do you mean? He told me that there’s only one way I can take care of you permanently, but he didn’t say like kill you.”

Questions Raised Over Decision to Reverse Contract Cancellation

Cat added that he and others had long harboured suspicions about KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s predecessor, Sihle Zikalala Mchunu, and his reluctance to proceed with the contract’s cancellation after previously calling for it to be terminated.

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