A police forensic report into former police minister Bheki Cele has recommended he be criminally prosecuted for allegedly receiving unlawful “gratification”, including luxury penthouse stays and hundreds of thousands of rands in cash, from Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s companies.
The Sunday Times can exclusively reveal that forensic investigators examined the bank records of Matlala’s companies, uncovering a “specific pattern” of large cash withdrawals from the accounts of Medicare24 Tshwane District and his security firm, CAT Protection and Security (Pty) Ltd, occurring within days of Matlala’s meetings with Cele.
Medicare24 won a three-year, R360m contract to provide health-risk management services to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in June 2024, the same month Cele’s term as police minister ended.
While the alleged gifts came afterwards — between January and March 2025 — Matlala says he had cultivated a friendship with Cele because he was seeking a political strategy to thwart police efforts to cancel his contract and believed Cele might be able to assist him. The contract was ultimately cancelled in May last year.
The joint forensic investigation — conducted by SAPS internal audit and its risk and integrity management division — said Cele received “gratification” and “private benefits” from Matlala, the sole director of Medicare24 Tshwane District.
But Cele told the Sunday Times this week that he never received any money from Matlala and had no political influence over the cancellation of his contract.
The explosive 370-page report, concluded in April, details systemic corruption, fronting and bribery surrounding the SAPS contract
“If they say I got money, they must show me bank receipts which show that I received the money. Also, when has it been a crime to sleep there [in Matlala’s penthouse]? What kind of political influence did I have over the police when I had already left in June?”
The explosive 370-page report, concluded in April, details systemic corruption, fronting and bribery surrounding the SAPS contract.
The report also exposes a luxury accommodation arrangement. Matlala leased a penthouse at The Capital Menlyn Maine in Pretoria. The hotel — located in the heart of a luxury shopping and dining precinct and next to the SunBet Arena — boasts a spa, exotic cocktails and boardrooms.
On January 27 last year, Matlala sent a WhatsApp message to Trucelle Snyman, the hotel’s sales manager, instructing management to grant Cele access to the penthouse whenever he was in Pretoria. Keycard logs obtained by investigators confirmed that the apartment was occupied during this period.
“Good day Trucelle, can you kindly do me a favour, there is a friend of mine who’s also a business partner. He is a former minister of police, Mr Bheki Cele. When he is in Pretoria can you please ask management to inform staff at the front desk to grant him access to the penthouse,” Matlala said in the message to Snyman.
Investigators concluded that Cele failed to disclose his relationship with Matlala, resulting in a severe conflict of interest and a direct violation of national instruction 18 of 2019, which governs private benefits and sponsorships for police officials.
Medicare24 Holdings CEO Michael van Wyk revealed in a sworn statement that Matlala frequently travelled to KwaZulu-Natal to meet Cele to secure political support against the cancellation of the contract. Van Wyk stated that Matlala admitted to carrying cash sums ranging between R200,000 and R400,000 to hand over to Cele.
During his testimony before the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating police corruption, Matlala explained that he had sought a political strategy to thwart police efforts to cancel his contract. This led to meetings with Cele for discussions and cash exchanges, including an encounter at Cele’s Pretoria residence in January last year and a subsequent meeting at a hotel in March.
Matlala claimed to have given Cele money twice: “He actually wanted R1m. I gave him R300,000, and then I gave him R200,000. And the day I decided to stop, I was supposed to give him R300,000 again, but that never happened. It’s when I decided to stop taking his calls.”
Testifying before the ad hoc committee, Cele disputed claims of a close relationship with Matlala, stating, ‘I do not have a friend called Cat’
Matlala also told the Madlanga commission that Cele had arranged a meeting for him and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. He testified that the meeting took place in Umhlanga and focused on issues relating to purchase orders.
He also testified that he sought assistance from Lt-Gen Lineo Nkhuoa, who signed off on the service-level agreement for the Medicare24 tender.
Testifying before the ad hoc committee, Cele disputed claims of a close relationship with Matlala, stating, “I do not have a friend called Cat.”
Cele told the committee that while he initially viewed Matlala as a “cool guy”, his perspective shifted after learning about Matlala’s alleged illicit activities, raising concerns over how Matlala had “managed to remain under the radar”.
Regarding their initial encounter, the committee learnt that Cele was introduced to Matlala in December 2024 at Durban’s Beverly Hills Hotel via Bongani “Mabonga” Mpungose, whose father is prominent in the taxi industry.
Cele testified that during this meeting, Matlala asserted that the deputy national commissioner of crime detection, Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, who is now suspended, had requested an affidavit targeting crime intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo. Cele said he pursued further dialogue with Matlala solely to gather intelligence to safeguard Khumalo, whom he described as “a good cop”.
Addressing his stay at Matlala’s high-end penthouse, Cele acknowledged staying there “for free”, arguing that, as a retired citizen, he was under no duty to declare it.
The report recommending that Cele be prosecuted was included in a September 30 Pretoria high court application lodged by Fadiel Adams, leader of the National Coloured Congress.
Adams is petitioning for a judicial review to overturn national director of public prosecutions Andy Mothibi’s decision to clear suspended national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola of criminal charges.
Adams contends that Masemola neglected to probe or suspend the Medicare24 tender, despite prior notifications concerning corrupt practices and links to an alleged criminal. He further challenges Mothibi’s decision to drop the charges, branding it irrational in light of documented irregular spending.
He claims that based on the forensic report, corrective, remedial and criminal actions must be instituted against Masemola for failure to:
- Investigate allegations of supply chain management abuse;
- Reject the bid proposal;
- Prevent irregular expenditure; and
- Invoke a Treasury regulation to reject the proposal or cancel the contract at the time he received the allegations of supply chain management system abuse by Medicare24.
It has emerged that a senior investigator in the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) met Maj-Gen Fred Kekana in April 2024 to inform him about allegations of corruption, fraud and manipulation of the Medicare24 Tshwane tender by Matlala. Kekana then informed Masemola months before the tender was awarded.
Capt Brian Cartwright, a facilitator on the bid evaluation committee, allegedly colluded with Matlala by leaking confidential police documents
“Maj-Gen Kekana confirms that he received a message from Gen Masemola on or about May 21 2024 ... and requested a proper investigation into the matter,” said Adams in his application.
The contract was awarded to Medicare24 despite Matlala being an alleged central figure in a multipronged fraud probe at Tembisa Hospital, which was initiated following the assassination of whistleblower Babita Deokaran.
The forensic audit reveals that the procurement process was heavily manipulated. Capt Brian Cartwright, a facilitator on the bid evaluation committee, allegedly colluded with Matlala by leaking confidential police documents.
Cartwright reportedly sent Matlala screenshots of the exact due diligence questions the tender committee would ask, allowing Matlala to prepare a misleading presentation. Cartwright also allegedly leaked police financial management system (Polfin) reports containing the pricing schedules of competitor Metropolitan Health Corp.
Medicare24 also submitted fraudulent lease agreements and false business addresses across multiple provinces to falsely claim a national footprint. Physical due diligence was never conducted at the bidder’s premises but rather at the franchisor’s offices.
Once awarded, the contract suffered from catastrophic nonperformance, with the company failing across all major workstreams.
Crucially, the enlisting of 5,500 entry-level police trainees under Project 5500 was severely delayed because the provider failed to deliver 2,384 outstanding certificates of fitness (COF).
A subsequent audit revealed that signatures on numerous COFs were forged.
Between August 2024 and April last year, the SAPS paid Medicare24 R50m.
The report also recommends the criminal prosecution of Matlala, Cartwright, Brig Petunia Lenono (a bid committee member who was illegally employed by Medicare24 during the contract’s execution) and Lt-Gen Molefe Fani. All except Fani have already been criminally charged.
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