Mkhwanazi met Cat Matlala in person, says Brown Mogotsi

North West businessmanBrown Mogotsihas told parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating police corruption that KwaZulu-Natal commissionerNhlanhla Mkhwanazimet businessman and alleged “Big Five” cartel leaderVusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. Mogotsi said this in response to Mkhwanazi’s earlier testimony that he would not make peace with criminals, adding that Matlala had confirmed the meeting to him. “I still maintain that given the period of time General Mkhwanazi had since addressing the media, I believe he should have taken the country to confidence that ‘I also met with Cat Matlala’,” Mogotsi told MPs, referring to the KwaZulu-Natal police boss’s media briefing last July in which he made allegations of corruption and political interference implicating Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, among others.

Mchunu, who was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa soon afterwards, denies all the allegations against him. On Tuesday Mogotsi said before Mkhwanazi’s news conference, Matlala had informed him of a meeting with the KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner to resolve his case. “He did mention that ‘my brother, remember when I told you I went to KZN, I actually went to meet General Mkhwanazi’ … To my surprise, the alleged member of the Big Five sat with him, corroborated byMajor General [Lesetja] Senona,” he said.

Mogotsi also made serious allegations about policing tactics under Mkhwanazi’s command, telling the ad hoc committee: “I came to learn that all General Mkhwanazi’s suspects do not make it out alive. “They don’t get a chance to shoot back … There’s never evidence to know where these criminals come from because they get killed before they get to whoever is sending them or the big people behind them,” he said. He also alleged that Mkhwanazi has close links to a telecoms company, Magma, which can retrieve deleted text messages and manufacture false messages implicating suspects.

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“Because of the relationship Magma has with General Mkhwanazi, that’s where the suspicion is drawn, that it was actually used to [retrieve WhatsApp messages],” Mogotsi said. “Hence I believe many messages which were not in favour of certain people were deleted. It’s because of this machine and Magma has this machine.” Mogotsi. who told the committee that he became a South African Police Service informant and contact agent for crime intelligence in 2009, said he required permission from his handlers to provide proof to corroborate his testimony.

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