Ex-Minister's frantic calls to criminal accused revealed

South Africa's former Police Minister Bheki Cele was desperate to speak to murder accused Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala just days before his dubious R360m SAPS tender was cancelled, and he was linked to an assassination. Phone records obtained by News24 reveal that Cele – who previously insisted that he and Matlala were neither friends nor business partners – tried to call the tender tycoon 10 times in a single day. The calls were made on 9 May, around the time Matlala had threatened police brass with legal action should they terminate his health and risk services tender. All the calls were either missed or rejected by Matlala. Within days, the tender was cancelled and Matlala was arrested for an attack in 2023 in which his ex-lover, actress and socialite Tebogo Thobejane, was targeted by hitmen. Matlala and his access to high-ranking politicians and police officers was drawn into sharp focus by KwaZulu-Natal provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who named him as an underworld figure who had captured the police. Matlala landed the tender while he was under investigation by both the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks for alleged procurement fraud through multi-m i l l i o n rand payments from Tembisa Hospital. News24 reports that Matlala was first identified by whistle-blower Babita Deokaran, three weeks before she was killed, when she reported what would be revealed as a R2.3bn extraction network at the East Rand medical facility. Matlala is in custody facing charges of attempted murder, money laundering and defeating the ends of justice. He will face similar charges relating to two other botched assassinations, that of Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni and Seunkie Mokubung.