“I Can’t Be Held Accountable”: Businessman ‘Cat’ Matlala Testifies in R360m SAPS Tender Scandal

In a dramatic session that laid bare the tangled web of state procurement, businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala appeared before a parliamentary inquiry shackled and from a prison cell, deflecting responsibility for a controversial R360 million police tender awarded to his company.

Matlala, testifying via video link from the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre, was brought before the Ad Hoc Committee investigating corruption and criminal syndicate infiltration within the South African Police Service (SAPS). The focus was squarely on how his company, Medicare24, secured a massive healthcare services contract despite glaring irregularities.

A Criminal Past and a Lucrative Contract

Matlala offered a candid, if not strategic, glimpse into his background. He grew up in Mamelodi East and started an informal business after matric. It was during this time, he revealed, that he was convicted for “buying unregistered goods,” receiving a four-year sentence in 2001 that was later converted to supervision.

His journey into the healthcare tender, he explained, began with a friendship. “I have a friend I met in 2017 – Mike Van Wyk, founder of Medicare24. We live in the same complex,” Matlala told the committee. Van Wyk allegedly asked him to register a company to provide healthcare services in townships.

When the multi-million rand SAPS contract was finalized in December 2024, Matlala stated he resigned from the company, seemingly distancing himself from the impending storm.

A Flawed Process and a Blame Game

The core of the controversy lies in the tender process itself. An internal SAPS audit and media reports have revealed that Medicare24 lacked a valid operating license and failed to disclose key supplier relationships when it was awarded the contract.

When evidence leader Norman Arendse pressed him on Medicare24’s qualifications for such a large-scale deal, Matlala claimed he “paid a holding company to handle the SAPS contract” and provided all necessary documents. His central defense was one of deflection: “I cannot be held accountable if due diligence was not done.”

This statement directly implicates the SAPS officials who oversaw the tender. SAPS Chief Financial Officer Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane had already testified that the contract was awarded during the tenure of Lieutenant General Molefe Fani, head of SAPS Supply Chain Management, assigning him direct responsibility for the flawed process.

Last week, Lt Gen Fani defended himself before the same committee, insisting Medicare24 was compliant at the time and confidently stating that “no report” would implicate him.

The high-stakes inquiry continues to pit the testimonies of businessmen, senior police officials, and politicians against one another. For the public watching, the testimony of ‘Cat’ Matlalaa man with a criminal past, testifying in shackles about a R360 million police contracthas become a powerful symbol of a procurement system in crisis, where accountability appears to be everyone’s responsibility but no one’s burden.

{Source: IOL}

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