Tenderpreneur and criminally accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has denied that he was a member of a drug cartel but said his close friend Jerry Boshoga, who was kidnapped a year ago, was dealing in drugs.
On Thursday, Matlala told the ad hoc committee, which is investigating allegations of criminality, political interference, and corruption in the criminal justice system, that when Boshoga was kidnapped, he received a phone call from his (Boshoga’s) brother.
Matlala said the brother told him that Boshoga told him he was going to fetch a 20l drum and “some stuff” that he used to manufacture his narcotics.
According to Matlala, Boshoga’s brother then told him that when they arrived in Centurion, Jerry got out and jumped into a Mercedes-Benz.
“... and then he said to that guy, ‘this is my brother,’ and he waved at him, and he said, ‘listen, wait for us here. We will come back’. They left, and they never came back.”
He said he received a call from the brother telling him what had happened.
Matlala did not know the actual address where Boshoga was kidnapped but said it was a complex.
He said when he visited Boshoga’s home, his wife told him that when he left, he said he was going to meet up with a person who owed him cash.
Asked by ActionSA MP Dereleen James if he was okay with his circle of friends comprising drug dealers, Matlala said he wouldn’t judge his friend.
Again, evidence leader Adv Norman Arendse asked if he was comfortable with his friend manufacturing drugs.
Matlala said he was not but said Boshoga was still his friend. Matlala also told the committee that Boshoga owed him about R100,000.
He said he initially borrowed Boshoga R1m for his cattle business.
Boshoga was kidnapped in November 2024, and his kidnappers have been sending his family videos of him where his captors can be seen assaulting him. They have also demanded an R10m ransom for his release.
In some of the videos, Boshoga appears with bruises on his face with his hands tied behind his back.
In media interviews, his family had claimed that the kidnapping was linked to Matlala, who has been accused of being at the heart of the infiltration of the criminal justice system police by KZN police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Sowetan
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