Controversial businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has made a string of explosive claims in a draft affidavit prepared behind bars, alleging he handed over millions in cash, 20 impala antelopes, and received promises of government buildings to set his company up for lucrative National Health Insurance (NHI) contracts.
The untested allegations—which implicate former Police Minister Bheki Cele, former Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya, former Deputy Public Works Minister Bernice Swarts, and other senior police officials—were put together while Matlala was in custody.
He had hoped to turn state witness or strike a plea deal with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) over a South African Police Service (SAPS) medical-services contract awarded to his company, Medicare 24 Tshwane District. Under the proposed deal, Matlala would have served eight years in prison in exchange for testifying against those implicated. However, when a magistrate insisted on a 12-year sentence, the deal collapsed and Matlala withdrew his cooperation.
The serious allegations in the draft document have not been tested in court and require independent verification.
### The hospital lease, NHI ambitions and R80k for 'ceremony alcohol'
According to Matlala, his dealings began while he was struggling for roughly two years to get authorisation to lease and run a hospital on the SAPS Tshwane campus. He claims Sergeant Fannie Nkosi, whom he had known for years, told him Sibiya wanted to help.
During a 2023 meeting at Sibiya’s Centurion home, the top cop allegedly offered to introduce him to a friend at Public Works—then-Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts.
“Sibiya said to me I hear you have been experiencing some problems to get the lease agreement authorised with Public Works,” Matlala recalls in the document.
Matlala claims Sibiya’s driver later took him to Swarts’s official residence, where Sibiya was already waiting. There, Swarts allegedly promised to help him secure the hospital lease and discussed getting him more state buildings ahead of the NHI rollout.
“She will ensure that I get more buildings to lease from Public Works so that when the National Health Insurance (NHI) kicks in, I need to be in a position where I have a footprint that will enable me to get a contract with government under the NHI project,” Matlala states.
Before the lease was signed off, Sibiya allegedly told him Swarts needed cash for an event.
“Prior to the lease agreement being authorised, Sibiya contacted me and indicated that Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts wanted money to buy alcohol for a traditional ceremony,” Matlala alleges, claiming he handed R80,000 in cash to Sibiya at OR Tambo International Airport to pass on to her.
Days before the lease was approved, Sibiya allegedly came back asking for more.
“A few days before the lease agreement was authorised, Sibiya contacted me and informed me that the lease agreement was authorised and said that Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts wanted money for sorting out the lease agreement,” he states, claiming he made another R200,000 available before receiving the signed lease in mid-December 2023.
The affidavit does not independently prove that Swarts asked for or received any money, nor that any NHI contracts were ever awarded.
Swarts, who is now the Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, flatly denied the claims yesterday, stating she has never met Matlala on a single occasion and never helped him with a lease or promised him buildings.
“As a deputy minister I did not even get myself involved in the administration matters in the department,” she said.
### R50k in a bathroom bin, 20 impalas and a State Theatre basement drop
Matlala’s draft affidavit also details how Medicare chased a separate SAPS medical-services tender. He claims he had an arrangement with SAPS employee Brian Neville Cartwright—whom he had known since 2019—to pay him R50,000 after every payment cycle once Medicare started billing the police.
“At the time of submission of this bid I had an agreement with Brian that he will assist Medicare in any manner necessary to ensure that Medicare wins the bid,” Matlala states.
He also alleges Sibiya offered to see what he could do to help with the tender. In January 2024, Matlala claims he visited Sibiya’s office at SAPS headquarters with a stack of cash.
“I carried R50 000 cash with me to the meeting which Sibiya had asked for,” Matlala alleges. “He informed me that there is a small disposal bin inside the rest room and told me to put the money inside the disposal bin.”
Once Medicare won the contract, Sibiya allegedly asked him to bring R500,000 in cash to his Centurion home because a lot of work had gone into securing the deal. Matlala says he transferred money from his business to a company owned by his friend Given Makofane, who drew the cash so Matlala could hand it to Sibiya.
Later, Sibiya allegedly demanded another R500,000, claiming the first batch had gone to a senior officer Matlala knew as “General Fanie”. Matlala claims he handed over that second R500,000 in the basement of the State Theatre in Pretoria.
On top of the cash, Matlala alleges he supplied Sibiya with 20 impala antelopes and that Sibiya asked him to buy a R4 million property in Midrand, to be paid off as SAPS paid Medicare. Matlala says he backed out of the property deal because he feared the demands would never stop.
### Bheki Cele, a Woolworths bag of cash and a R6m coastal retirement home
Matlala claims he turned to former Police Minister Bheki Cele in December 2024 after the Political Killings Task Team raided his home and business and seized firearms. An intermediary allegedly set up a meeting with Cele at Durban’s Beverly Hills Hotel on 23 December 2024, where Cele phoned senior SAPS bosses in front of him to help sort out his police troubles.
Three days later, on 26 December, Cele allegedly offered to help with the medical-services contract—at a price.
“He said to me that I must make sure that I pay him for helping me as he said, ‘I don’t work for you’,” Matlala states, claiming they agreed on R1 million.
In January 2025, Matlala claims he arranged for R700,000 to be drawn from the Medicare account and delivered it to Cele in a Woolworths bag at a Menlyn Maine penthouse in Pretoria where the former minister was staying.
“On the 9th January 2025 I arranged for R 500 000 cash to be withdrawn from the Medicare account at Menlyn Maine, and again on the 10th January 2025 I arranged for R 200 000 to be withdrawn from the same account and branch,” he states.
He alleges he handed over the remaining R300,000 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in March 2025.
“I gave Cele the balance of the R1m we had agreed to. It was R300 000 in cash,” Matlala states.
According to the affidavit, Cele also wanted Matlala to buy him a R6 million retirement property in Trafalgar, KwaZulu-Natal, allegedly sending him photos of the house and suggesting that his son, an engineer, could send invoices to cover up the payments. Cele also allegedly asked for another R300,000 to fix his and his wife’s cars, though Matlala says he travelled to KwaZulu-Natal in May 2025 and decided to stop paying.
Matlala adds that Cele gave him notes prepared by a senior SAPS legal official to help Medicare fight a police letter over alleged breach of contract and poor performance, even suggesting the police settle out of court or that Medicare sue SAPS for R300 million. None of it saved the deal.
“I realised that Cele’s intervention if any, did not assist at all as Medicare’s contract was terminated by the SAPS,” Matlala states.
The affidavit does not independently prove that Cele received the payments or that his actions influenced the contract. Cele did not respond to calls and text messages asking for comment. While he has previously admitted to staying at Matlala’s Menlyn penthouse for free, he has publicly denied ever taking cash from him.