Witness in ‘Cat’ Matlala case alleges police cover-up in Joe Sibanyoni shooting

A state witness in the Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala case has ended his three-day testimony questioning the accuracy of police records and has suggested that omissions in the official crime scene sketch and his typed statement could mean that someone wanted the attempted murder of taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni to “disappear”.

Bethwell Cele’s dramatic allegations came after hours of questioning by Matlala’s lawyer, Adv Annelene van den Heever, who challenged his version of the 2022 attempted murder of Sibanyoni outside the Centurion Country Club Estate.

Cele, a security guard, was on duty at the estate on the day Sibanyoni was attacked and said he had fired back at the attackers with his 9mm gun.

He had said earlier in his testimony that Sibanyoni had just arrived at the estate in a red Ferrari when men travelling in a white BMW and armed with AK-47s attacked him.

Matlala, his wife Tsakane Matlala, Musa Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela, and his daughter Nthabiseng Zama, are facing 25 charges, including the attempted murders of actor Tebogo Thobejane and Sibanyoni and money laundering.

During cross-examination at the Johannesburg high court on Thursday, Van den Heever repeatedly confronted Cele about discrepancies between his evidence and police documents.

That means the people at the crime scene wanted to make this matter disappear.

—  Bethwell Cele, state witness

Cele had maintained he did not know Sibanyoni personally and only learnt later that he was the man who had been shot.

He said Sibanyoni had run into the estate and hidden during the shooting before later emerging in what appeared to be a security vehicle.

Van den Heever turned to Cele’s account of the gun battle, putting it to him that his own statements did not support his claim that he fired his weapon in self-defence.

Cele rejected that suggestion.

“They started shooting at me — at least two shots — and then they turned their bodies and faces and started shooting at Mr Sibanyoni,” he said.

“I fired at the BMW and I fired at them as well.”

Van den Heever repeatedly referred Cele to his police statements, arguing that nowhere did he specifically state that he fired in self-defence and only fired at the BMW, not the shooters.

Cele insisted the typed version was not entirely his own.

“Those are not my words. Those were written by the people who typed the statement,” he told the court.

He added that he trusted his handwritten statement more because the typed version had never been read back to him before he signed it.

The cross-examination intensified when Van den Heever referred Cele to the official crime scene sketch.

She pointed out that the sketch depicted no Ferrari at the scene, recorded only 21 spent cartridges, none of them belonging to a 9mm gun, contained no indication of blood, and made no reference to the damaged BMW side mirror that Cele previously testified had been shot off.

Cele said he was disturbed by what he was seeing.

“I would like the person who drew this sketch to come to court and explain what is happening here,” he said.

He maintained there had been a Ferrari at the scene and insisted police had been shown where the spent 9mm cartridges from his firearm were located.

Van den Heever accused Cele of suggesting there had been a cover-up or tampering with the crime scene.

An emotional Cele then addressed the court directly.

“I don’t want to go further because it’s already on the record. The person who wrote this statement was the police, and a car missing is a big thing. When or if I get arrested tomorrow for this, please may the law protect myself and my children,” he said.

“That means the people at the crime scene wanted to make this matter disappear.”

Van den Heever later described Cele as a “belligerent” witness who answered questions with questions and asked the court to reject his evidence.

Cele dismissed the accusation.

The matter resumes on Friday morning with a new state witness expected to take the stand.