Developing story: Cat Matlala's testimony is due to continue on Tuesday 10 November. The claims below are allegations made in evidence and have not been tested or proven. This follows our earlier reports on his testimony and the commission's ruling on his Section 204 statement.
Cat Matlala told the Madlanga Commission on Monday that payments described in his Section 204 statement differ from what happened, and that the statement was prepared by investigators from the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).
It was the first time Matlala set out in public the contents and circumstances of the statement, in which a witness seeks indemnity in exchange for evidence. Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga earlier dismissed an application by Matlala's counsel to block the use of the statement.
The payments
The statement says R50,000 in cash was handed to Shadrack Sibiya at his residence in Centurion. Matlala told the commission the R50,000 was paid at the SAPS Excellence Awards in KwaZulu-Natal.
The statement also says that, after the Medicare24 contract was awarded, Sibiya asked for R500,000 in cash at his residence. Matlala told the commission he did not comply and instead transferred the R500,000 to Given Makofane, a friend's company.
Evidence leader Adila Hassim SC put to him that notes of an interview with a commission investigator say he withdrew R500,000 from Medicare24 and Lux Africa Brand and took it to Sibiya's home at Copperleaf Golf Estate. She reminded him he had testified that he made no payments to Sibiya beyond the R50,000.
Claims about the statement and investigators
Matlala said IDAC investigators Dylan Perumal and Brian Padayachee pressured him into signing a plea-and-sentence agreement, and that Perumal typed a statement containing information that did not come from him. "I did not take an oath, and the statement prepared by Perumal was changed between three to four times," he said.
He also said investigators wanted him to implicate senior police figures, and that he was coerced into lying about Sibiya before Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee. He alleged that Sibiya repeatedly warned his wife not to let him reveal anything, and that threats were made against him and his family.
What we do not yet know
None of the people named has been found guilty of wrongdoing in connection with these claims, and they are presumed innocent. No response from Sibiya, Perumal, Padayachee or IDAC to Matlala's allegations was available in the reports we have seen. The commission has not made findings, and its final report is due to the President by 25 January 2027. The quotations here are drawn from other coverage and should be confirmed against the commission's record.
