By Anita Dangazele
- Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala pleaded guilty in the R228-million Medicare24 case and will testify against 14 co-accused including General Fannie Masemola.
- Prosecutors are rewriting the charge sheet using Matlala’s evidence, with the case returning to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on 28 August.
Fourteen people are facing a rewritten case. One man’s guilty plea changed everything.
Businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, the alleged mastermind behind the irregular R228-million Medicare24 tender, entered a guilty plea on Thursday and agreed to become a state witness. By the time the remaining accused appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday, prosecutors were already moving to amend the charges against all of them.
The court postponed the case to 28 August to give the state time to finalise the amended charge sheet and hand the updated docket to the defence.
Among the 14 remaining accused is suspended National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola. He faces four counts of contravening the Public Finance Management Act for allegedly failing in his duties as the accounting officer responsible for overseeing SAPS finances. The other 13 accused face fraud, corruption and money laundering charges for allegedly colluding with Matlala to rig the tender process.
The amendment affects the unified charge sheet for all of them. Matlala’s inside account of how the tender was manipulated, and what the accused knew, is now being folded into what the state will argue when the trial resumes.
The state has not said publicly what the amended charges will look like. The 28 August date gives prosecutors time to work that out.
Pictured above: Accused in the R228-million Medicare24 tender case appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Image source: Supplied
