Online Reporter
Self-confessed fraudster Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has agreed to testify against his co-accused — among them senior police officers — in exchange for a lighter sentence.
This after pleading guilty to fraud, corruption and money laundering in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday.
Under the plea and sentencing agreement, which the state said took two months to negotiate, Matlala will turn state witness in the case linked to a R228m police contract awarded to his company.
Reading the agreement into the record, the state said the parties had agreed that a just sentence would be for the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence and impose 15 years’ imprisonment, of which seven years would be suspended.
The suspension is conditional on Matlala deposing any statement required by the SA Police Service, testifying about his own involvement and that of others, and not committing another offence.
The magistrate will still decide whether to accept the sentence the parties have proposed.
He has yet to ratify the agreement and is not bound by it until he does.
Before ruling, he raised several concerns.
He wanted to know who would care for Matlala’s minor children, and gave the parties 30 minutes for Matlala to liaise with his ex-wife.
He also questioned what conditions would apply during the suspended portion of the sentence, and asked how Matlala could be expected to be available as a state witness if he had been deemed a flight risk from the outset.
Matlala’s appearance comes a day after his case was separated from that of his co-accused in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, allowing him to be dealt with on his own.
His co-accused include 12 senior police officers, suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and Medicare24 managing director James Murray.
Those accused are expected back in court on Friday.
The charges, stem from a health-services contract awarded by the SA Police Service to Matlala’s company, Medicare24 Tshwane District.
The tender was budgeted at roughly R360m, but the state said the contract, ultimately concluded for about R228m, should never have gone through.
It was awarded in June 2024 and cancelled in May 2025 after an internal audit flagged irregularities, by which point at least R50m had already been paid out.
The state has alleged that police officials favoured Matlala and Medicare24, despite the company allegedly lacking the facilities, equipment and staff to deliver on the contract.
In court on Thursday, the magistrate said he had been approached on Wednesday to hear whether he could accommodate the proceedings, and asked the state to confirm the plea and sentencing agreement.
The state then read affidavits from senior investigators setting out the deal.
It said Matlala had indicated he wanted to enter into a plea and sentence agreement and would plead guilty to fraud.
The court heard he paid police officer Rachel Matjeng, with R300,000 referenced in the investigating officer’s affidavit.
On the money laundering charges, the state said Matlala would plead guilty to all counts.
The state also read an affidavit from SAPS Chief Risk Officer Charity Matlou, the complainant.
She said she understood the accused would plead guilty, that she had been informed of the charges against him and that she agreed with the deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence.
Matlala told the court that all his rights had been explained to him.
The agreement follows days of speculation about Matlala’s standing with the state.
After his case was split on Wednesday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed that talks had taken place but said any agreement would only become binding once a magistrate had applied his mind to it.
Matlala is a Pretoria-based tenderpreneur and security boss from Mamelodi who owns Cat VIP Protection Services and has become one of the central figures in South Africa’s police-corruption scandal, accused of cultivating corrupt relationships with senior officers.
Matlala remains in custody at the C-Max section of Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre, where he is held as a high-risk inmate.
He also faces a separate trial on 25 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder, arising from three shooting incidents allegedly committed between August 2022 and January 2024.
That matter is scheduled to begin on July 20.
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