FORMER deputy police commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya allegedly threatened Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s wife.
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The Madlanga Commission heard on Monday, 9 November that he also pressured the businessman to conceal the truth about their relationship.
The allegations emerged during Matlala’s testimony in Tshwane when a previously undisclosed witness statement, prepared during his now-collapsed plea deal negotiations with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), was made public.
In the statement, Matlala alleged that Sibiya contacted his wife, Tsakani before his appearance before Parliament’s Ad hoc Committee in November 2025 and warned her that her husband shouldn’t disclose anything about him.
“Tsakani informed me that Sibiya would constantly threaten her, warning that I shouldn’t disclose anything about him (Sibiya) to the Ad hoc Committee. Otherwise, my life and that of my family would be put in harm’s way,” the statement reads.
But the allegations went further.
Matlala told the commission that Sibiya allegedly used his former lawyer, Advocate Bronwynne Forbay to communicate instructions on what he should say during his Parliamentary testimony.
He claimed Forbay would contact Sibiya during breaks in the Ad hoc Committee proceedings before handing him the phone.
Matlala alleged that he was instructed not to reveal the full extent of his relationship with the former police boss and was warned that his family could be in danger if he did.
He also told the commission that he saved Sibiya’s number on his phone under the name “Sotobe” and deleted their communication after telephone conversations because Sibiya allegedly wanted their contact kept secret.
“He said to me that I need to protect him at all costs and he did not want anybody to know that I was in communication with him,” Matlala testified.
When questioned about the alleged threats against his wife, Matlala appeared uncomfortable and refused to elaborate.
“I don’t want to make any comments on it. I don’t want to put someone’s life at risk, someone’s life should matter,” he said.
The commission also heard explosive allegations about money allegedly paid to Sibiya in connection with the R228 million South African Police Service (SAPS) healthcare tender awarded to Matlala’s company, Medicare24.
His witness statement alleged that he paid Sibiya R500 000 through his friend, Given Makofane because a lot had allegedly been done to ensure the tender was awarded to his company.
However, Matlala disputed the allegation, denying that he paid Sibiya R500 000 or that the former police boss helped him secure the contract.
He only conceded giving Sibiya R50 000 while maintaining that it had nothing to do with the tender.
Sibiya, who also testified before the commission, denied receiving any money from Matlala.
Matlala further challenged the credibility of the witness statement, claiming that IDAC chief investigator, Dylan Perumal inserted information that he hadn’t provided.
He told the commission that he made the statement after Perumal and other investigators promised that he and his family would be placed under witness protection if he provided information about senior police officials.
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He said he was taken out of prison by Perumal and senior investigators Suneel Bellochun and Brian Padayachee and taken to the Sheraton Pretoria Hotel and a McDonald’s restaurant near the prison while the statement was being prepared.
Matlala claimed that the statement was changed several times and that some of its contents were false.
He also rejected allegations that he paid former public works deputy minister Bernice Swarts R80 000 and later R200 000 in connection with a lease agreement for property at the police training college in Pretoria.
According to the disputed statement, Sibiya allegedly arranged for money to be handed to Swarts, with Matlala claiming he gave Sibiya R80 000 at OR Tambo International Airport and later R200 000 at his residence.
Matlala denied the allegations, telling the commission that he already had the lease when he met Swarts.
He also accused IDAC investigators of trying to use him to pursue senior police officials, including national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo.
“They told me that they are not after [me], but ‘we need to arrest so that we can get the people we want to pursue’. I asked them who those people are. They mentioned Masemola, [Lt-Gen Nhlanhla] Mkhwanazi and [Lt-Gen Dumisani] Khumalo,” he said.
The witness statement became a major point of contention after commission chairman Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ruled that restrictions on the use of documents from collapsed plea negotiations in criminal trials did not prevent the commission from examining them.
Matlala’s lawyer, Advocate Annelene van den Heever, indicated that they intended to challenge the ruling on review, arguing that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had acted beyond its legal powers by handing the statement to the commission.
She warned that the ruling could discourage accused people from entering plea agreements with the state if they could not be assured that information shared during negotiations would remain protected.
Matlala withdrew from his plea deal negotiations in July 2026 in the R228 million tender corruption case.
He’s expected back on the witness stand on Tuesday, 10 November, where evidence leaders are set to continue questioning him about contradictions between his oral testimony and his Section 204 affidavit, his alleged dealings with senior police officers, and payments linked to the SAPS healthcare tender.
