10 JUN 2026‘My stay at Matlala’s house is being used to discredit me,’ says Witness INkateko Joseph Mabasa3 min read

Witness I told the commission that his two-year stay at businessman Matlala’s property was being used to undermine his testimony An anonymous police officer attached to the South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau has told theMadlanga commissionthat his stay at a property belonging to businessman and alleged Big Five cartel leader Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala was being used to undermine his credibility. The officer, known as Witness I, said he had no direct relationship to Matlala and that the contact with him had been facilitated by Captain Felani Zungu, a member of the Hawks Tactical Operations Management Section (Toms). Crime Intelligence head Major General Dumisani Khumalo previously identified Zungu as apotential “double agent”after his contact details were found in Matlala’s cellphone records.

On Tuesday, Witness I told the commission that Matlala had acted as an informant who provided the information that had led to successful Hawks operations and arrests. On Wednesday, he disclosed that he had lived in one of Matlala’s properties in Mamelodi for about two years but had neither met nor communicated with the alleged cartel leader during that period. “I did not disclose that in 2023 I stayed at Mr Matlala’s family property in Mamelodi for a period of approximately two years.” Witness I said he had moved to the property after surviving an attempt on his life in which four individuals had allegedly attacked him, leaving him with a serious head injury and multiple fractures on his hand and fingers.

He said Zungu had assisted him in finding temporary accommodation. When asked whether he was concerned about the association with Matlala, Witness I said he had not been aware of the alleged cartel leader’s criminal record. “At the time, this did not concern me as I knew Mr Matlala as a businessman.

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During my stay, I did not meet or talk to Mr Matlala.” He said the only occasions he had encountered Matlala was when he had been in the presence of Zungu and Brigadier Lesiba Mokoena. Mokoena has beenimplicated in the controversial raidon the home of Matlala’s co-accused, Katiso Molefe, where Hawks members allegedly interfered with an operation conducted by the Political Killings Task Team and Gauteng Counter-Intelligence.

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