Despite holding top-secret clearance, KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona allegedly shared a SAPS docket containing officers’ sensitive personal details with organised crime accused Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala. Shocking evidence heard on Wednesday, 28 January at the Madlanga Commission revealed that KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona allegedly shared with organised crime accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala a police docket linked to a civil claim against the South African Police Service (SAPS) by alleged Mozambican kidnapper Esmael Nangy. The SAPS docket included an affidavit and several annexures containing the identity numbers, cellphone numbers and identity photos of six members of the KwaZulu-Natal Hawks – Senona’s subordinates – as well as provincial members of Crime Intelligence.
This forms part of a string of serious claims under which Senona buckled, failing to provide the commission with satisfactory answers. Among them was his assertion that, despite his senior police rank, he was unaware that Matlala, whom he described as a “younger brother”, was implicated in the R2.3-billion Tembisa Hospital scandal. Senona also faced claims that he supported Matlala in pursuing litigation against the SAPS after the termination of his R360-million Medicare24 contract with the police service.
The commission also heard that he shared a news article suggesting that KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was not applying for the position of Hawks head. This emerged during the second day of Senona’s testimony at the commission. On Tuesday, Senona was grilled over a meeting he allegedly arranged and attended with Matlala and Mkhwanazi on 15 April 2025.
Read Full Article on Daily Maverick
[paywall]
The issue of the Nangy docket stemsfrom a News24 articlethat cited a confidential police report allegedly linking a consultant who apparently helped secure the release of a kidnap victim to the alleged kidnapping kingpin, Nangy. However, the affidavit and its annexures were not embedded in the article, a point the commission grappled with as it pressed Senona on why he sent the SAPS docket on the matter to Matlala, an alleged criminal implicated in serious offences. The commission heard that after a meeting with Matlala at the Menlyn Maine Hotel in Pretoria on 5 March 2025, Senona allegedly sent the SAPS docket to Matlala later that evening.
His explanation for sending the docket to Matlala was widely criticised. Senona claimed that after reading Nangy’s affidavit, he noted that he was living in the same complex as Matlala and sent the docket to “sensitise” him to the fact that there was an individual of that nature residing there. “After reading the affidavit, I warned Matlala that an alleged kidnapper and extortionist was living in his estate. Nangy was staying in the same complex as him,” he told the commission.
[/paywall]
