Cat Matlala Clams Up: Fears His Own Testimony Could Land Him In Jail

Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s long-awaited appearance before Parliament’s ad hoc committee got off to a tense start on Wednesday as he repeatedly warned that answering certain questions could incriminate him in an ongoing criminal investigation tied to a lucrative police medical-services tender.

Matlala, who only agreed to testify after threatening to interdict Parliament to secure more time with his legal team, appeared visibly cautious as MPs pressed him on details of the multi-million-rand SAPS contract awarded to him.

Tender Questions Raise Alarm for Matlala

Evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse S.C. questioned Matlala extensively about how he secured the contract to provide medical services to the South African Police Service.

But Matlala refused to delve into specifics, insisting the tender is currently part of a criminal probe — and any statements could be used against him later.

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“The thing is regarding this SAPS contract, I do not want to get deep into that thing because there’s an ongoing investigation,” he said.
“I will prefer not to talk further about the contract of SAPS because I don’t want to compromise the investigation or even incriminate myself.”

Parliamentary Privilege Explained in Police Corruption Probe

Arendse attempted to reassure him, explaining that parliamentary privilege protects witnesses from having their testimony used against them in external criminal proceedings.

“You are privileged in the sense that whatever you say cannot be used against you by any outside third party,” Arendse said.

However, he reminded Matlala that the protection is not absolute: privilege does not apply if a witness lies or commits fraud while testifying.

Wednesday’s session focused largely on tenders Matlala received from SAPS, with MPs probing the circumstances around the controversial contract at the centre of the police corruption inquiry.

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