Cop recounts how ‘Cat’ Matlala’s co-accused fell ill and coughed blood during arrest for murder

The state on Tuesday called a second police tactical response team officer to testify about the April 2024 arrest of Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala‘s co-accused, Musa Kekana, during a police operation tasked with finding the killers of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart.

Swart, 30, was assassinated as he sat in his car outside Q-Tech Engineering in Vereeniging on 17 April 2024. He was shot 23 times in an apparent case of mistaken identity after his company exposed Transnet procurement fraud.

Lt-Col Tumelo Thomas Tsotetsi took the stand at the Johannesburg high court and largely corroborated evidence given earlier by Capt Phimi Sekgobela, who was also part of the operation.

Tsotetsi testified during the ongoing trial-within-a-trial, which will determine whether evidence obtained during Kekana’s arrest can be admitted in the main case against Matlala and his co-accused.

“[The forensic officers were trying to arrange an ambulance because [Musa Kekana] was coughing up blood.”

—  Lt-Col Tumelo Thomas Tsotetsi

Kekana is charged alongside Matlala, his wife Tsakane Matlala, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and his daughter Nthabiseng Nzama. They face 25 counts, including the attempted murders of actor Tebogo Thobejane and taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni, conspiracy to commit murder and money laundering.

Tsotetsi told the court that he was on his way to work shortly after 8am when Sekgobela phoned him.

“He told me there was a murder incident that happened in Vereeniging where the suspects were travelling in a Hyundai i20 vehicle and a Mercedes-Benz,” Tsotetsi testified.

He said he was instructed to join the operation in Bramley, northern Johannesburg, where officers were initially told that the suspects had entered a house on 5th Road.

Before the team moved in, however, Tsotetsi said Sekgobela received fresh information from private security officer Christiaan Shepherd that the suspects had left the property in a white Mercedes-Benz Viano.

Police followed Shepherd’s directions to 8th Road, where they located a vehicle matching the description.

Tsotetsi testified that Shepherd identified Kekana and former police officer Michael Pule Tau as people he had seen earlier.

Sekgobela then informed Kekana and Tau that they were under arrest on suspicion of involvement in a crime committed in Vereeniging.

The court heard that shortly after the arrest, Kekana, while lying handcuffed on the ground, complained that he was uncomfortable and unwell.

“Capt Sekgobela instructed us to change his position. We made him sit up properly and moved the handcuffs from behind his back to the front,” Tsotetsi said.

He said Sekgobela then informed the two suspects of their constitutional rights before leaving the scene with Kekana about 10 minutes later.

After Sekgobela left, Tsotetsi said he remained in charge of the 8th Road scene and contacted the local criminal record centre to process the crime scene.

When forensic officers realised Kekana had already left the scene, they asked that he be brought back so that gunshot residue samples could be collected from him.

“They [the forensic officers] informed us that they would bring him back, but at that stage they were trying to arrange an ambulance because he was coughing up blood,” Tsotetsi testified.

He said Kekana was later returned to the scene, where medics attended to him before he was given an oxygen mask. A Netcare 911 ambulance later arrived and took him to hospital.

Under questioning by prosecutor Elize le Roux, Tsotetsi denied witnessing any assault on Kekana or participating in one himself.

He also denied that Kekana was forcibly removed from an ambulance.

Asked whether any warning shots were fired before the arrest, Tsotetsi replied: “No, there were no shots. The people that I work with know when to fire shots.”

This was an element that was brought up in the cross-examination of Sekgobela, where Kekana’s own version of accounts was put to him that on arrival at 8th Road, metro police officers had fired warning shots in the air before arresting him.

The matter was adjourned to Tuesday, when Tsotetsi is expected to complete his evidence-in-chief before being cross-examined by the defence.

Sowetan