‘More than greed’: Matlala says Cele kept asking him for money, unaware Idac sought former minister’s arrest

Tenderpreneur Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala may be in trouble with the law, but his arrest on 14 May 2025 appears to have saved him from those who were allegedly constantly asking him for money, including former police minister Bheki Cele.

On Wednesday, Matlala continued with his testimony at the Madlanga commission, where he testified about Cele’s alleged constant requests for money. He also testified about the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption’s (Idac) plan to arrest Cele.

Cele, Matlala and Msibi

In his Section 204 statement, he denied drafting a paragraph detailing Cele’s alleged relationship with late taxi boss Jotham Msibi. It further claimed Matlala met Cele at Msibi’s farm. But Matlala said he first saw Cele at Msibi’s funeral, not his farm.

Idac allegedly drafted that paragraph to “create history” between Msibi and Cele. This would then explain why Matlala was comfortable approaching Cele for help after his firearms were confiscated by the police. This would help explain why Matlala gave him large sums of money to help Idac charge Cele with corruption, Matlala alleged.

“These guys from Idac said, ‘You need to create a history as if you used to see him with Mr Msibi before. That’s why you’re even so comfortable going to him, even though you never spoke; you have met before, so there must be a history. So that’s why they ended up putting this paragraph here,” alleged Matlala.

“They were actually exaggerating [the amount of money I gave to Cele]. I did give Mr Cele money, but that money was exaggerated. And then, because now they wanted to charge him with corruption.”

Although Matlala claimed that Idac’s paragraph about the amounts given to Cele was “exaggerated”, he later contradicted himself by complaining that Cele was always asking him for money.

Plea deal collapses

According to Matlala, Idac’s plan collapsed on 13 July, when the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Pretoria rejected his plea deal.

He claimed that while on his way to the court, he heard Idac officials on the phone with their then-boss, former Idac head Andrea Johnson, telling her the plea deal was a done deal. Johnson was apparently going to use Matlala’s 204 statement to testify at the Madlanga commission that same day.

However, when she heard the plea deal had collapsed, her health took a sudden turn.

“I remember even when I refused to take the plea, they [Idac officials] were very angry because they said on Friday they were supposed to go and arrest him [Cele]. So now they couldn’t. Him and other people, not only him. He [Cele] was part of the people who were supposed to be arrested after I took the plea,” said Matlala.

“The day that I refused the plea, their boss was supposed to testify here. On my way to court, they called her and told her that Matlala is going to take the plea because, on our way to court, I lied to them and said, ‘Yes, I’m going to take the plea’.

“And then their boss was already here because I heard them talking on the phone, saying good luck and everything. And after I refused to take the plea, their boss suddenly disappeared. They said to me that ‘you see now, because our boss was relying on your statement to go and testify there’. So after that, I think she never even testified that day.”

Cele’s meeting with Matlala

Matlala testified that, although he saw Cele for the first time at Msibi’s funeral, they never spoke until their first real meeting on 23 December 2024.

This meeting was arranged by an associate of his, who told him Cele could help with his firearms issues. However, this was also the beginning of Cele’s constant money requests, he testified.

Initially, he denied that Cele asked him for R1 million. However, he later admitted this after the commission presented to him his testimony before the ad hoc commission, in which he admitted Cele had indeed asked him for R1 million.

“Firstly, I gave him 200 000 the first time. I was talking to him [Cele] through Mabunga [the associate who arranged the meeting]. Mabunga told me that [Cele said] that ‘your friend is not showing appreciation. He’s not showing that he’s a man.’

“And I asked Mabunga, ‘What does he want me to do?’ He told me that he wants some money. And I asked him, ‘How much?’ So we agreed that, for now, I will give him R200 000. Because Mabunga suggested R500 000, and I said, I don’t have R500 000; I’ll give him R200 000.”

‘More than greed’

Matlala said that when he had issues with the R360 million contract awarded to his company, Medicare24 Tshwane District, he discussed it with Cele. But that’s when Cele saw that Matlala had money, and the money requests started flooding in.

From the first R200 000, followed R300 000 and then R1 million and more

“Maybe I must have missed it, but it might be correct [that Cele asked for R1 million]. When you go further, there’s somewhere where he asked for even more than a million. So, even a million, I might have made a mistake [for saying he never asked for R1 million].

“I never spoke with Mr Cele directly. I only spoke with him directly after Mabunga died. So, it was Mr Mabunga who communicated that Mr Cele wanted the R1 million.

“I was not happy about it, but I just felt that he would think that I’m ungrateful, and then I was appreciative of the fact that the harassment had stopped.

“But it did not make sense to me [that he kept asking for more], because the demands were even more than that; at some point, he asked me to buy him a house in some place in KZN [KwaZulu-Natal]. He said he wants to retire in that house.

“He used the reason of facilitating getting my weapons back, but it was more than greed, I would say, because he knew that, because he told me himself that, ‘How did you get this contract? Because this contract is not what you see here; it’s billions. Who helped you to get this contract?’ Then I realised that’s why he’s always asking for money, because of this contract.”