Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has blamed his detention in prison and a brain that’s not functioning well for omitting to put in his statement submitted to parliament’s ad hoc committee that former police minister Bheki Cele demanded R1m from him, only revealing that in his testimony.
“I forgot a lot of things. I’ve been locked in a cell for 23 hours a day. So I have no contact. I don’t have a radio. I don’t have a newspaper. I don’t have a TV. My brain is not functioning well. I forgot a lot of things. So for that, please forgive me,” he said when asked why he did not mention that in his statement.
On Thursday, Matlala appeared for a second day before the committee, which is sitting at the Kgosi Mampuru prison, where Matlala is being detained for the attempted murder of his former girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane.
In his testimony on Wednesday, Matlala said he gave Cele R300,000 in January and another R200,000 in March and that he stopped taking his calls as he knew that he would not stop asking for more. However, he did not mention the R1m demand that he revealed before the committee on Thursday.
Evidence leader Adv Norman Arendse asked why he did not mention the R1m in his statement but only mentioned the R500,000.
I forgot a lot of things. I’ve been locked in a cell for 23 hours a day. So I have no contact.
— Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala
In his response, Matlala said there were a number of things he did not mention.
“I forgot a lot of things. The place that I’m in [prison], I cannot remember all these things. Some of them, like I said yesterday, I just remember when I’m lying on my bed.”
However, Arendse said the evidence was significant, as it involved a former minister.
“You are now in the midst of having to almost fight for your life. You have been raided twice by PKTT [political killings task team]. You are a sought-after person. You are in the midst of tendering for a huge award of R350m. Why would you not remember or recall some of these significant events?
“You certainly do in relation to what you say in your statement, the R300,000 and the R200,000. Why wouldn’t you have recalled that his demand was actually for a million rand?”
But Matlala said he did not have control of his memory.
Matlala further told the committee that the first payment of R300,000 was in a Woolworths bag, and he gave it to Cele at his penthouse in Pretoria.
The second payment was made at the Beverly Hills hotel. He said he asked one of his protectors to fetch a bag from his vehicle and then went to Cele’s vehicle, a red jeep, to drop off the cash.
Matlala said the former minister then drove off.
Sowetan
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