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The state is proposing that Pretoria security boss Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala serve an effective eight-year jail term over tender rigging involving a police contract.
The father of nine pleaded guilty on Thursday to colluding with senior government officials to win a R228m health and wellness tender in 2024. His company, Medicare24 Tshwane, received R50m before the deal was cancelled.
Security company boss and alleged underworld figure Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala is making admissions as part of a plea deal with the state on Thursday before the Pretoria commercial crimes court.
A police investigator’s affidavit outlining the admissions is being read into court.
It began with a statement by Matlala that he paid R300,000 to Brig Rachel Matjeng via a third party’s bank account.
Sunday Times reported in May that lawyers for the Medicare24 Tshwane boss, who lost a lucrative police health services tender when it was cancelled owing to irregularities, were in talks with the state over a deal.
This week, his trial for corruption, fraud and money-laundering was separated from 11 police officers’, including Matjeng. Suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola has also been arrested in connection with the tender. His charges are four counts of alleged contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. The officers are due to reappear in court on Friday.
The payments to Matjeng were recently aired at the Madlanga commission, which is probing allegations of criminality and political interference in the criminal justice system. She was employed as the head of the section for quality management in crime records and crime scene management in the South African Police Service (SAPS). She had assumed the role seven months before Matlala was awarded the SAPS tender in July 2024.
Matlala is also an accused in three attempted murder and conspiracy matters, including a botched attack on his former girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane. These are being heard separately from the corruption case.
This is a developing story
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The Pretoria commercial crimes court heard that the prosecution and defence have been in negotiations on the charges of fraud, money-laundering and corruption faced by Matlala.
In line with the plea deal, the state proposed on Thursday that Matlala would serve an eight-year prison term, with another seven years suspended for five years, in exchange for testifying at future trials.
His plea and sentencing deal depends on him testifying frankly in all future trials, staying in the country until after 2030, and forfeiting his firearm rights. If he backs out or changes his story, the suspended sentence kicks in immediately.
His companies, Cat VIP Protection and Medicare24 Tshwane, would also pay R1m fines, to be suspended for five years on condition they steer clear of any further corruption or organised crime offences.
The agreement between the prosecution and defence still needs to be adjudicated on by the presiding magistrate, who has reserved his decision.
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From alleged links to high-ranking South African Police Service (SAPS) officials to cocaine and cash transactions, the Madlanga commission of inquiry has disclosed damning WhatsApp exchanges between Medicare24 CEO Mike van Wyk and alleged underworld figure Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.
The commission was scheduled to hear evidence from Van Wyk on Monday. However, his testimony was postponed after he recently suffered a panic attack. Proceeding in his absence, the commission placed Van Wyk’s formal evidentiary statement on the record, noting that he will be required to respond to further oral questions upon his return.
Evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson SC noted that the commission would be focusing on two distinct sets of WhatsApp data: chats extracted from Matlala’s phone between himself and Van Wyk, which took place in 2025, and a separate thread extracted from the phone of suspended EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi between himself and Van Wyk.
In the chats between Matlala and Van Wyk, the two frequently discussed internal matters within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
In one instance, they reacted to a news article regarding a purported arrest warrant issued for national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola, who has since been placed on special leave, and crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo.
Responding to the news, Van Wyk texted, “Not good”, to which Matlala replied, “It’s actually good. My person is going to be a national commissioner now,” highlighting his influence with high-ranking officials.
However, in his written statement, Van Wyk claimed he had no idea who Matlala was referring to.
“I made it clear that I have never been introduced to high-ranking police officials, and Matlala never introduced me to any,” Van Wyk stated.
“Matlala claimed on many occasions that he had contact with high-ranking officials, but he never mentioned names, and I was never involved in any meetings except operational ones.”
The pair’s joint venture, Medicare24 Tshwane District, was previously awarded a three-year, R360m SAPS healthcare tender, which was later cancelled following investigations into irregularities with the awarding of the tender.
Chaskalson noted that the commission would temporarily bypass the tender controversy, as Van Wyk is still compiling a detailed statement on the contract, expected by the end of the week.
The commission then shifted focus to a series of messages involving George van der Merwe, the former general manager of the controversial, Gupta-owned Optimum Coal Mine.
The commission played a video clip in which Van Wyk appears to introduce Mkhwanazi to Van der Merwe, assuring the mining manager that his “transport problems” would be sorted out by Mkhwanazi.
Subsequent chats dated February 25 2025, showed that Van Wyk sent Matlala a video showing a wounded man inside a vehicle riddled with bullets. Van Wyk followed the video with a text stating, “This guy also had an issue with George.”
Chaskalson confirmed that investigators established that the man in the vehicle was Maxwell Mlangeni, owner of Today Destiny Logistics. The shooting occurred in Emalahleni, close to the Optimum Coal Mine.
The inquiry also scrutinised cash transactions discussed on March 24 2025. On that date, Van Wyk sent Matlala a photograph of a huge stash of rubber-banded cash packed inside a brown paper bag.
In his statement, Van Wyk claimed the photo depicted legitimate casino winnings.
“One can see from the casino bag that this is a typical casino bag, and the notes are also tied in a particular way, which is only done by casinos,” Van Wyk’s statement read.
“I can make my records available to prove that I had indeed won approximately R200,000 shortly before. I never sent Mr Matlala photographs of any money that I won at a casino.”
Chaskalson noted that Van Wyk’s defence implies that this section of the WhatsApp log was tampered with, even though the photograph itself accurately reflects his own casino winnings.
A far more damming exchange from April 6 involved a video sent by Matlala to Van Wyk depicting brick-shaped packs of drugs. Matlala followed the video with a text reading, “Get me a good price.”
Van Wyk replied with a voice note saying, “We’ll go in at 250 [R250,000].” Van Wyk subsequently forwarded a message received from a third party to Matlala that read: “Mike, we ready to take tomorrow afternoon as got important engagement in the morning. 1. Wednesday we can take 2 again.”
To verify the transaction, the commission analysed separate chats from the same day between Matlala and an unnamed third party. The exact same voice note (“We’ll go in at 250″) was found in their conversation. Police forensic investigations later confirmed that the bricks, which were stamped with a crown logo and branded with the word “Prestige”, were pure cocaine.
While Van Wyk vehemently denied ever receiving the drug video, Chaskalson stated that the commission rejected his denial outright, saying that investigators had tracked down and interviewed the third party.
“The third party admits to sending the video to Matlala,” Chaskalson argued. “He also admits the WhatsApp messages exchanged between Matlala and him are authentic.”
Chaskalson dismantled the defence’s theory that the evidence had been fabricated.
“If Van Wyk did not receive the video or send the voice note, someone would have had to plant them into the WhatsApp chat. To plant that video would be technically impossible. The data was extracted from Matlala’s iPhone 16, and our forensic experts inform us that it is impossible to inject a message or media file into a secure WhatsApp database without leaving a clear digital fingerprint showing the file was retroactively amended.”
Furthermore, Chaskalson cited a factual impossibility: the third party had used WhatsApp’s “Delete for Everyone” feature to erase the video from his chat with Matlala. Because the video was wiped from the source networks, it would have been impossible for an outside party to access the file and plant it on Van Wyk’s device.
The commission is moving forward with its scrutiny of the remaining chat logs between Van Wyk and Mkhwanazi.
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Matlala’s trial was separated from his co-accused, who are linked to the bid committee that awarded him the tender. They are 12 senior police officials, and they are due to reappear in court on Friday.
Note: This article has been amended to clarify that the proposed sentence was offered as part of the plea deal between the prosecution and the defence. It not been agreed to by the court, with the magistrate taking time to determine the verdict.
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