By Anita Dangazele
- Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala’s testimony before the Madlanga Commission has been postponed to 1 September, after heated exchanges in court.
- His lawyer says he cannot testify now because his attempted murder trial, over the 2023 shooting of his former girlfriend, begins Monday.
Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s testimony before the Madlanga Commission has been postponed again, this time to 1 September, after a tense back-and-forth between commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Matlala’s lawyer, Annelene van den Heever.
Van den Heever argued that Matlala’s constitutional right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence should take priority over his compelled appearance before the commission.
She said he is due to stand trial on Monday, over the 2023 attempted murder of his former girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane, and that testifying now could damage that case.
Madlanga pushed back directly.
“Here’s a difficulty I have: surely facts cannot change, and facts are facts. I do not quite get why Mr Matlala could not have made his statement. He knows what the facts are, regardless of what the outcome of the plea deal were to be,” he said.
When Van den Heever said she could not, as an officer of the court, say which questions her client could or couldn’t answer, the exchange grew tense.
“You will never understand me, but please go on,” Madlanga told her.
“I do understand you quite clearly,” she replied.
“You don’t, you don’t,” Madlanga said.
After a short adjournment, advocate Sello told the commission that Matlala’s legal team and the commission had reached an agreement.
Matlala will file his statement by 29 July, and his testimony will begin on 1 September, with no fixed end date, running for as many days as needed.
Matlala has been implicated by several witnesses before the commission over the Medicare24 Tshwane District SAPS tender, the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team, and the Ekurhuleni blue lights saga.
Pictured above: Vusumuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala’s testimony before the Madlanga commission has been postponed to 1 September 2026.
Image source: Supplied
