SAPS tender: Matlala’s payments to ‘girlfriend’ Brig Matjeng questioned

Six months after Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala secured a R350m SAPS tender, he allegedly sent R38,000 to his “girlfriend”, who is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the same tender he had just scored. A month later, in February, he charmed her with an even bigger amount of R100,000. In the following two months, March and April, he dazzled her with two deposits ofR100,000.

All these transactions allegedly happened in 2025 when the couple allegedly rekindled their romance. The total amount was even larger than the R113,000 that Matlala paid to Brig Rachel Matjeng in girlfriend allowances between 2019 and 2021. On Thursday, the Madlanga commission probing allegations of criminality and political interference in the criminal justice system placed a sharp focus on the payments that Matlala made to Brig Matjeng, who was responsible for overseeing Matlala’s tender.

She is employed as the head of section for quality management in crime record and crime scene management in the SAPS. She had assumed the role seven months before Matlala was awarded the tender in July 2024. The deposits in question were made into the account of Matjeng’s friend known only as Modiegi, who owns Osizweni Meat Market.

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Matjeng had passed on Modiegi’s banking details to Matlala in order to conceal their affair from his wife. Read:Five things you need to know about Brig Rachel Matjeng’s testimony However, Matjeng denied receiving the money, stating that Matlala owed Modiegi more than R330,000, as he used to take meat to help the community. She told the commission that Matlala had asked for an FNB account because he didn’t want his wife, Tsakane Matlala, to know that he was showering her with money.

“It was not gratification [for the tender],” she told the commission. However, commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga did not believe her version and asserted that their cellphone conversations appeared to be “business-like” and not romantic.

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