By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Hawks head Lesetja Senona has claimed that his WhatsApp exchanges with Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala have been tampered with.
Senona, who appeared before the Madlanga commission, is accused of sharing classified information with Matlala.
The evidence leader Advocate Adila Hassim, however, pointed out that the commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga had ruled in November last year that Senona was already in possession of all the documents he required.
Senona faced claims that he supported Matlala in pursuing litigation against the SAPS after the termination of his R360-million Medicare24 contract with the police service. The commission also heard that he shared a news article suggesting that KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was not applying for the position of Hawks head.
This emerged during the second day of Senona’s testimony at the commission. On Tuesday, Senona was grilled over a meeting he allegedly arranged and attended with Matlala and Mkhwanazi on 15 April 2025.
Senona was also grilled on the Nangy docket, which stems from a News24 article that cited a confidential police report linking a consultant who apparently helped secure the release of a kidnap victim to the alleged kidnapping kingpin, Nangy.
However, the affidavit and its annexures were not embedded in the article, a point the commission grappled with as it pressed Senona on why he sent the SAPS docket on the matter to Matlala, an alleged criminal implicated in serious offences.
The commission heard that after a meeting with Matlala at the Menlyn Maine Hotel in Pretoria on 5 March 2025, Senona sent the SAPS docket to Matlala later that evening.
His explanation for sending the docket to Matlala was widely criticised. Senona claimed that after reading Nangy’s affidavit, he noted that he was living in the same complex as Matlala and sent the docket to “sensitise” him to the fact that there was an individual of that nature residing there.
“After reading the affidavit, I warned Matlala that an alleged kidnapper and extortionist was living in his estate. Nangy was staying in the same complex as him,” he told the commission.
When questioned by evidence leader Adila Hassim SC on why the News24 article on the case was not sufficient to share with Matlala, and why he instead sent the police docket, Senona replied that, at the time, after reading the article, he simply forwarded the document to Matlala once he had seen it.
Hassim stressed that the purpose of a top-secret security clearance was to determine whether an individual was trustworthy enough to be entrusted with highly sensitive, classified information.
When asked whether this was the case, Senona agreed, confirming that such clearance existed precisely because those granted it came into direct contact with classified material and must therefore be beyond reproach.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi SC did not mince her words over his sharing the personal information of SAPS, Hawks and Crime Intelligence officials with Matlala.
“You share personal information, you are a police officer. You make it appear this is all benign and it is nothing. I find it very difficult to accept that there is an innocent explanation for sharing this bundle with Matlala. It is more sinister than you [are] prepared to share with us,” Baloyi said.
After hours of intense grilling, Senona told the commission that he would accept no wrongdoing on his part, conceding only that it may have been an oversight that he failed to read the entire document before sending it to Matlala.
Another issue that raised eyebrows relates to an incident on 13 May 2025, when Senona sent a letter to Matlala from National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola that terminated Matlala’s R360-million Medicare24 contract with SAPS.
In the letter, Masemola is quoted as stating: “SAPS has judged that your company abused supply chain management. Given the seriousness of this matter, SAPS hereby terminates the contract with immediate effect.”
Senona and Matlala exchanged WhatsApp messages on the matter that further raised concern. Senona told Matlala that the termination of the contract was “sad news”. When Matlala responded that his lawyer had advised him to institute legal action, Senona is alleged to have replied: “Take them on, brother.”
The commission viewed this as a serious indictment, noting that it reflected a senior police officer encouraging an alleged criminal associate to sue another organ of state.
Meanwhile Matlala has raised concerns about his continued detention at a correctional facility far from Gauteng, with his legal team requesting that he be transferred closer to the court where his case is being heard.
Matlala appeared before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Thursday alongside four co-accused for a pre-trial hearing after their case was transferred from the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.
Among accused include Matlala’s wife, Tsakani, hitmen Musa Kekana and Tiego Floyd Mabusela, as well as Mabusela’s daughter, Nthabiseng Nzama.
The group is facing multiple serious charges, ranging from attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder to fraud, money laundering and defeating the ends of justice.
Matlala, who was arrested in May 2025, was transferred from Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria to Kokstad, where he had previously given evidence before Parliament’s ad hoc committee.
The State asked for a postponement to allow the defence and the state to engage on finding a detention facility closer to the court. Judge William Karam postponed the matter to 6 February.