WATCH | Cat Matlala’s payment to SAPS officer was ‘a boyfriend’s to his girlfriend’, commission hears

The Madlanga commission says the R338,000 a senior SA Police Service (SAPS) official — who was in a romantic relationship with Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala — received appears to be gratification. According to proof of payment sent toBrig Rachel Matjeng, the first payment of R38,000 was made in January 2025 into an FNB account, the details of which she had given to Matlala via WhatsApp. The second payment was made in February 2025, another one in March 2025 and the last in April 2025.

“Mr Matlala showered me with gifts and money,” Brig Rachel Matjeng reveals that she was in a romantic relationship with Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.Video:@Moloi_Herman1pic.twitter.com/MddkECJkAz The account owner is “Modiegi”, owner of Osizweni Meat Market, who appears to be friends with Matjeng. Explaining the payments,Matjengsaid the first payment was meant for herself, but the other three were for Modiegi, whom Matlala owed. She failed to explain why Matlala would pay Modiegi and then send her a screenshot of the proof of payment.

Matjeng was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the R350m SAPS tender awarded to Matlala in 2024. Commissioner Mbuyiseli Madlanga told Matjeng that the plausible explanation of the payments was that it was “gratification”. A screenshot shown as part of evidence at the Madlanga commission shows that Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala showered his lover, Brig Rachel Matjeng, with R100,000 in February 2025.pic.twitter.com/LDN9MRqoAt “You come [here] with the story that Mr Matlala owed this owner, and we see through it; we see right through it.

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A plausible explanation for these payments was actually what you say they were not [a gratification], because otherwise what you say does not make sense,” he said. Matjeng told the commission that when she learned about the tender being awarded to Matlala, she tried to recuse herself, but her superior refused and told her it was her responsibility. In her statement before thecommission, Matjeng told the commission that the money she received from Matlala was from a boyfriend to his partner.

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