Could key evidence be thrown out? Matlala trial takes dramatic turn

Controversial businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala, alongside his wife Tsakani Musa Kekana was pointed out in the dock of the Johannesburg High Court on Friday as the driver of a car police were looking for on the day he was arrested. But whether the state may use that identification, and everything else police obtained that day, is now for the court to decide. The identification was made in a trial within a trial, which began on Friday afternoon after Kekana objected to everything flowing from his arrest on April 17 2024.

Kekana is the first of five accused, among them alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, standing trial on 25 charges that include 11 of attempted murder. A private security officer, who told the court earlier in the day that he had recognised the driver of a wanted Hyundai i20 by his long-sleeved mustard shirt, was asked to look at the men in the dock. Kekana took off his face mask and stood alongside accused two and three when state advocate Elize le Roux asked the three men to get to their feet.

“Let the record show that accused number one, Musa Kekana, is pointed out by the witness,” Le Roux said. Judge Cassim Moosa asked Kekana to raise his hands. “That is the gentleman, my lord,” the witness said. Moosa explained the main trial would stand down while the court heard evidence for and against the admission of the disputed material, and would resume once he had ruled on it.