PiE NEWS
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry suffered a setback on Monday, with Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Advocate Andrea Johnson failing to appear for her long-awaited testimony, hours before businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala walked away from his plea agreement with the state in a separate Pretoria courtroom.
Johnson was due to face the commission in Pretoria on Monday morning, but was rushed to hospital and did not testify, with her legal team submitting a medical certificate citing an undiscovered illness. Her counsel, Advocate Apla Bodlani, said he only learned of the emergency shortly before arriving at the venue, when a call came through informing them Johnson was unable to attend. A new date for her evidence is still to be set.
Her appearance had been one of the most closely watched of the inquiry. Johnson was expected to answer allegations that, while serving as a senior prosecutor in 2018, she leaked a confidential assault and intimidation docket involving Crime Intelligence deputy head Major-General Feroz Khan to Khan himself, before he gave his own warning statement — raising questions about whether he was able to tailor his version of events. Days earlier, retired Hawks colonel Kobus Roelofse told the commission that Johnson had interfered in the assault investigation involving Khan, improperly obtaining docket information and forwarding it to him while he was a suspect. Roelofse said he escalated his concerns to Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya, arguing the sensitivity of the matter required a senior prosecutor to take it over.
The claims land at a fraught moment for Johnson, who last month drew public criticism from KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi over her attempted arrest of senior Crime Intelligence officers, and whose directorate has already faced several days of damaging testimony about its independence and conduct.
The Matlala saga
While Johnson’s no-show played out, tenderpreneur Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala was in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court formally abandoning his plea and sentence agreement with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Matlala had pleaded guilty to seven counts of corruption, money laundering, and fraud linked to a R228 million health services contract awarded to his company, Medicare24 Tshwane District, by the South African Police Service. The deal, negotiated with IDAC, would have seen him serve an effective eight years after a proposed 15-year sentence with seven years suspended, in exchange for testifying as a state witness against senior police officials.
But magistrate Ignatius du Preez rejected that arrangement as too lenient on 1 July, finding the deal unjust and instead proposing a 12-year prison term. The magistrate was blunt in his reasoning, concluding he was not persuaded Matlala had genuine remorse, and viewed his cooperation with authorities as a bargaining tool rather than a mitigating factor.
Given the choice to accept 12 years or walk away, Matlala chose the latter. On Monday, his lawyer confirmed in court that the plea and sentence agreement was to be regarded as null and void, with the matter postponed to 11 September. The NPA has since confirmed that Matlala’s affidavit submitted as part of the plea deal can no longer be used in any investigations or prosecutions, and that he will now stand trial alongside the other accused, including suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, over the tender scandal.
Matlala’s legal troubles run wider than the tender case — he faces 11 counts of attempted murder relating to the failed assassinations of his former partner Tebogo Thobejane, taxi boss Joe Sibanyoni and music producer DJ Vettys, with that trial expected to begin on 20 July at the Gauteng High Court. He is also set to appear before the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday, 15 July, having already testified before Parliament’s ad hoc committee late last year.
