DA MP Glyn­nis Breyten­bach yesterday inter­rog­ated Vusimuzi 'Cat' Mat­lala about his alleged extens­ive crim­inal his­tory.

Mat­lala, mak­ing his second appear­ance before Parliament's ad hoc com­mit­tee invest­ig­at­ing alleg­a­tions of cor­rup­tion in the crim­inal justice sys­tem, con­cluded his evid­ence state­ment and faced a relent­less grilling from the former pro­sec­utor, who labelled him a 'dis­hon­est thug'.

The Herald reports that Breyten­bach ini­ti­ated her line of ques­tion­ing by detail­ing Mat­lala’s alleged past crim­inal activ­it­ies, which included ser­i­ous charges such as theft, pos­ses­sion of stolen goods, burg­lary, house rob­bery and pos­ses­sion of illegal fire­arms.

However, most of these charges were even­tu­ally with­drawn.

Mat­lala’s sole con­vic­tion stems from 2001 for buy­ing and selling stolen goods, for which he was sen­tenced to four years in prison.

‘How is it that you live such a charmed life out of the entire list of alleged activ­it­ies and you were only con­victed once?’ Breyten­bach asked.

Mat­lala main­tained that if he were guilty of the other charges, he would have been con­victed. Matlala told the committee that former Police Minister Bheki Cele initially wanted a cash payment of R1m, double the R500 000 Matlala paid him for his help.

EWN says more evidence was being led yesterday about the payments he allegedly made to Cele on two separate occasions.

He told the committee his sister withdrew the cash because she was the director of his Medicare24 company after his resignation as a director.

But Matlala said the only person who witnessed the cash exchange and could back up his claims was dead.

‘He actually wanted R1m. I gave him R300 000, and then I gave him R200 000, like I mentioned. And the day I decided to stop, I was supposed to give him R300 000 again, but that never happened. It’s when I decided to stop taking his calls.’

During the course of the day, Matlala also testified about the narcotics trade and denied having links to drug cartels.

This was despite him confirming that his close friend, Jerry Boshoga, who was kidnapped for ransom over a year ago, was involved in drug manufacturing.

In a separate report, EWN notes Matlala was questioned by evidence leader Norman Arendse SC about the kidnapping of Boshoga, who, according to Matlala, was kidnapped while transporting drugs in Centurion, Pretoria.

‘You don’t have any relationship with narcotics or drugs, or drug dealers, or people who deal in narcotics, despite a very good friend of yours being, you say, involved?’ Arendse asked. Matlala denied any drug connections, adding that he didn't judge his friends who were drug dealers. ‘I’m not okay with it, but I wouldn’t judge him (Boshoga).’

Matlala also confirmed he loaned Boshoga R1m, but said this was for his cattle farming business and not for drugs.

First EWN report

Second EWN report

Full report in The Herald