A series of WhatsApp messages have shown how attempted murder accused Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala bankrolled eight people linked to an associate of suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu, Brown Mogotsi, to attend a fundraising gala dinner ahead of the ANC's January 8 event in Cape Town.
The chats are part of a tranche of 424 explosive messages between Matlala and Mogotsi which were shown as part of the evidence from the police’s crime intelligence head, Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, at the Madlanga commission of inquiry on Tuesday.
They have revealed how Matlala paid for the flights for eight people to attend the event which was to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
While Mogotsi asked that Matlala also pay a further R200,000 for a table for the group, Matlala refused. Khumalo said lengthy conversations between Matlala and Mogotsi were categorised by six themes – the use of Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) payments to politicians, tender protection, the disbandment of the political killings task team, links to senior crime intelligence officials, and access to Mchunu.
The conversations were retrieved from Matlala’s phone after he was arrested for the attempted murder of his former girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane. Khumalo said the WhatsApp conversations were crucial as they would give context on why and how Mchunu was influenced to disband the task team. In January, Mogotsi sent Matlala a text asking him to buy eight ANC members’ flight tickets and a silver package at the Progressive Business Forum fundraising event held before the party’s annual January 8 celebration in Cape Town.
In their conversations, Mogotsi sent the names of eight people and their ID numbers, requesting that Matlala pay for their flights, accommodation, and a silver package. The silver package was valued at R200,000 and the package included access to wine tasting and a networking session with an opportunity to take pictures with ANC ministers.
Matlala’s response was: "This I would do [flights and accommodation] except the table." Matlala later sent Mogotsi proof of payment of the flights. The conversations between Mogotsi and Matlala started on December 19 2024, three days after Gauteng police counterintelligence officers raided Matlala’s property to inspect his security company guns.
Matlala sent Mogotsi CCTV footage of armed cops making an entrance on his property. Mogotsi responded by asking about Ipid and the status of the case against the raid. “We are aware that after the inspection, Mr Matlala initiated an urgent court application for the return of the firearms that were confiscated, and our analysis gives us that the chat was of those court proceedings,” Khumalo said.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi testified two weeks ago that Mogotsi had influenced Mchunu to dissolve the task team, as he thought it was the team investigating Matlala, but it was the Gauteng counterintelligence team.
Khumalo said that Mogotsi was able to get unauthorised confidential police reports that he later used to frustrate and manipulate investigations into Matlala. The last text from Mogotsi on May 14, a day after Matlala’s company R340m contract with the SAPS was cancelled, read, “We can’t lose [the] contract, whereas so many people are looking for tenders.”
The contract, given to Medicare 24 Tshwane District whose sole director is Matlala, was to provide medical assessments and wellness services to roughly 180,000 police members .
Concluding his testimony on the messages on Tuesday, Khumalo said he will produce more information about the duo’s relationship in camera. “Mr Matlala seems to have a special relationship with Mr Mogotsi. I can confirm that there is other evidence that is intended to be tabled in camera, to paint the picture that we have created.”
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