By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Services (SAPS) Head of Quality Management and Forensic Services, Rachel Matjeng, has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that she has been in a romantic relationship with alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Matjeng testified at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
Matjeng said the relationship, which began in 2017, was known within her social circle and described it as an “open secret”. She added that the relationship was on and off.
She confirmed that she was aware Matlala owned several businesses, including Cat VIP Security Services and Medicare24, but her role at the Saps does not involve the awarding of tenders.
She learnt that Matlala’s company, Medicare24 Tshwane District, was a successful bidder after 2024. She added that she did not participate in the awarding of the tender in question.
“In March 2024, I think I was six months into my new responsibility as the section head of quality management, criminal record and crime scene management, I became aware of the health risk manager contract,” explained Matjeng.
“The awareness was triggered by the coming to an end of the previous health risk manager contract, Metropolitan. There were discussion of the expired contract of Metropolitan. It was further said that a three-month extension was granted to Metropolitan until a new service provider for health risk management is appointed.
“Later in the month of June, the management of quality management was informed by the division supply chain management that the new health risk manager service provider contract was awarded to the Medicare24 Tshwane District.”
She said she informed her supervisor of her on-and-off relationship with Matlala.
“Her supervisor indicated that this is part of my scope of work and cannot relegate that responsibility, especially since the facilitation and coordination of medical surveillance and biological monitoring programme is solely the responsibility of the environmental compliance officer, which we will refer to as ECO, and if there are challenges, I still need to address them professionally.
Matjeng said the Medicare24 Tshwane District contract with Saps did not run smoothly, as there were challenges relating to the implementation of medical surveillance.
“Communication between me and Medicare24 was on email, telephone and WhatsApp. Due to the delay and non-response on the email, we then agreed with Mr Matlala that we can communicate by WhatsApp or telephonically because that line of communication was long established, where we would also talk about our private matters.”
Matjeng further testified that she knew Matlala was married and said that when he sent her money, he sometimes asked that it be deposited into an account not registered in her name to avoid detection by his wife, who she said knew her only as a friend.
She added that Matlala did not want the payments to appear as though they were made in exchange for favours at SAPS.
She admitted using a friends’ business account to receive money from Matlala, explaining that she provided him with the bank details of Osizweni Butchery, owned by her friend Modiegi.
Matjeng told the commission that in September 2023 she requested financial assistance from Matlala to pay attorneys who, she said, were pressuring her over outstanding debt. According to her testimony, Matlala deposited R100,000 into the Osizweni Butchery account, but her friend refused to release the money, claiming Matlala owed the business.
When questioned by the evidence leader on whether she informed Matlala that the money had not reached her, Matjeng confirmed that she had done so, despite the communication not appearing in text messages presented to the commission.
Matjeng further testified that Matlala had a direct business relationship with her friend’s butchery, regularly purchasing meat worth hundreds of thousands of rand. She claimed that Matlala made multiple deposits intended for her through the business account — including two deposits of R100,000 and one of R300,000 — but insisted that she did not receive any of the money.
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, however expressed skepticism about Matjeng’s version of events, suggesting that the payments may have amounted gratification in exchange for assistance related to Matlala’s SAPS contract.
Matjeng denied this, maintaining that she played no role in the processing of invoices linked to Matlala at SAPS.
She told the commission that Matlala often complained to her about challenges with SAPS, including delayed payments that affected his ability to pay service providers. The commission played a video showing SAPS officials reprimanding Matlala for failing to deliver services required under his contract.
Matjeng said the video had been sent to her by Matlala to show that he was “in trouble”, adding that he had also been penalised for failing to deliver the required services.
She admitted that she contacted a service provider to assist Matlala with Certificate of Fitness (COF) documents required for his business operations to resume.
Matjeng insisted that once Matlala’s contractual issues with SAPS were resolved, she did not ask for anything in return.
The dozens of witnesses are expected to testify over the coming months as the probe continues under the terms of reference issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 23 July 2025.
Phase One had focused on establishing the factual basis of KZN Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations, with the commission hearing evidence from witnesses able to substantiate the claims that led to its formation.
Phase Two allowed those implicated to respond to the allegations and raise their own claims.
Phase Three currently underway will see Mkhwanazi and supporting witnesses recalled, with their evidence subjected to testing through questioning and rebuttal.