By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) has on Tuesday, arrested 12 police officers over their ties to a controversial R360 million health services tender awarded to alleged crime kingpin Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s company Medicare 24 Tshwane District.
The contract, awarded in 2024, has been at the centre of proceedings of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and a parliamentary inquiry into crime networks infiltrating criminal justice system.
“The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) effected an arrest of 12 senior police officers and a director of a company in relation to the irregular awarding of a tender to Medicare 24,” NPA National Spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
“All accused are expected to make their first appearance before the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on charges of corruption, fraud, and the Contravention of the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act].”
The contract was later cancelled in 2025 by National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola after audits found it to be irregular.
Matlala is linked to, among others, the coordinated syndicates responsible for the looting of over R2 billion meant for healthcare in Gauteng, the attempted murder of his ex-lover and is believed to have played a role in the capture of some key members within law enforcement agencies.
Earlier this year Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson terminated a lease agreement between his department and Medicare 24 Tshwane District for a hospital facility in Pretoria West.
The investigation found that the lease agreement, entered into in December 2023, could not come into operation because the hospital facility had not been declared surplus to the requirements of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
In terms of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, 2007, SAPS remains the designated user of the facility. Departmental records further indicate that SAPS continues to require the hospital for service-delivery purposes.
The formal declaration of a property as surplus is a necessary legal requirement before any lease agreement can take effect.
The Department said the lease was terminated to ensure legal certainty and compliance with applicable legislation and governance frameworks, and to prevent any potential waste of public funds.