Matlala exposes Mchunu's alleged ANC funding scandal

Controversial attempted murder accused businessman Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala told police investigators that his bank statements provide evidence that he bankrolled suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's ANC presidential ambitions through one of fixer Brown Mogotsi's companies.

The Madlanga Judicial Commission of Inquiry this week heard recordings of interviews with Matlala.

The interview took place on May 14 this year with police investigators identified only as Witnesses C, B, and A, at the commission led by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. The investigation focused on allegations of criminality, political interference, and corruption within the criminal justice system.

During the interview, the officers and Matlala discussed funding Mchunu's ANC January 8 anniversary celebration delegates to Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

Matlala said he had evidence through bank account statements showing the funding for Mchunu's delegates' flights, accommodation, and entertainment.

He contributed R500,000 for flight tickets, accommodation, and entertainment for those attending the ANC’s January 8 Cape Town celebrations this year.

Witness C said Matlala indicated that if the investigators went through those bank statements, they would see the payments reflected.

Matlala undertook to implicate Mchunu.

"I'm going to put the minister there," he is heard saying in one recording.

According to Witness C, in the morning of his arrest on May 14, Matlala had written to Mogotsi informing him that he was going to make an affidavit at the High Court and that he was going to implicate Mchunu because of his (Mchunu's) criminality after the minister had refused to open a case against the team or the police.

Additionally, around the same time, Mchunu cancelled Matlala's R360 million contract with the SA Police Service.

Mchunu instructed National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola to cancel the contract.

Matlala was arrested a day after the police applied for a warrant of his arrest on May 13, 2025, and secured it at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.

Witness C stated that Matlala was the third suspect in the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane, in 2023, and also faces three counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Initially, his co-accused were Musa Kekana and Floyd Tiego Mabusela, but later on, other suspects were added - Matlala’s wife Tsakani and Mabusela’s daughter Nthabiseng Nzama.

"We regard him as a hit orderer," Witness C explained Matlala's role in the alleged hit taken on Thobejane.

He added that the day after the unsuccessful hit on his ex-girlfriend, Matlala paid R100,000 to Mabusela’s daughter.

Witness C testified that bank accounts show that the payment was from one of Matlala's companies, Medicare24 Tshwane District, to Mabusela’s daughter, and the funds could be traced to another of his firms, CAT VIP Security Services.

After securing the arrest warrant, police did a reconnaissance of Matlala’s movements, and when he was nabbed, he told them he was coming from ex-national police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s house in Midrand.

"We were able to apprehend Matlala as the car he was travelling in had a tyre puncture," Witness C stated.

He explained that when Matlala left Phiyega’s place, his motorcade was traveling at a high speed, and they had to be careful as his security detail were former members of the military’s elite unit.

"We were not chasing him, we were trying to find a spot where we could arrest him," Witness C said.

After Matlala's arrest, he started name-dropping high-ranking police officials and even told investigators he had been used by Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya.

In addition, Matlala informed them he wanted them to put him through to their commander, head of crime intelligence Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo.

The commission will resume on Monday.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za