Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala told the Madlanga Commission that he has never met suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu, denying allegations that the minister disbanded the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) at his behest.

“I want to place on record that I do not have any relationship with Minister Senzo Mchunu,” said Matlala.

“I have never met Minister Mchunu and have had no interactions with him, nor have I been at any gathering where he was present. It suffices to say that I do not know Minister Mchunu,” Matlala said.

He said he had never asked Mchunu for a favour as has been alleged.

Matlala said the SAPS might be investigating the impalas given to deputy commissioner Shadrack Sibiya as a gift. Sibiya has been accused of removing 121 case dockets from the PKTT after Mchunu’s disbandment letter.

He said the Gauteng counter-intelligence operation, conducted with the PKTT, had raided his house on 6 December. He said Brown Mogotsi had contacted him after the raid, allegedly representing Mchunu, and offered assistance. Three weeks later, Mchunu had disbanded the PKTT.

“I can confirm that I came to know of Brown Mogotsi when he called me at the time the SAPS had raided my house. Prior to this incident I had no dealings with Brown Mogotsi,” Matlala said.

When asked whether he currently maintained a relationship with Mogotsi, Matlala said their communication had ended when he had been arrested.

“I actually hate him … He caused a lot of problems for me,” Matlala said.

He alleged that Mogotsi might have been using Mchunu’s name to solicit money from people or that he was working with Mchunu while asking for additional money on the side.

Matlala said he had paid Mogotsi R5 000 and R150 000 for the ANC’s January 8 conference after being advised to do so by former police minister Bheki Cele. He had also paid for ANC delegates’ flights.

Matlala said Cele’s advice had been that he pay Mogotsi to gain Mchunu’s confidence.

“Cele said that maybe [Mogotsi] will lead us to Mr Mchunu,” Matlala said.

“Mr Cele said to me: ‘Mr Senzo [Mchunu] wants to fire General [Dumisani] Khumalo and replace him with General [Feroz] Khan in the position of crime intelligence’”

Matlala said Mogotsi had tried to help him open a case after the raid and that they had met twice, during which Mogotsi had allegedly relayed messages from Mchunu. Mogotsi had allegedly advised Matlala to open a robbery case with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

“The way he was pushing me to open a case with Ipid, I figured that this guy and whoever he’s working with are really fighting with these people from the PKTT and I’m being used as a tool to fight that unit.”

Matlala also testified about other persons of interests and told the commission that Hangwani Morgan Maumela was his friend and someone with whom he had previously conducted business. At one point, Maumela has been a director of Cat VIP Protection.

Matlala said he had approached businessman Suliman Carim for funding for his company, Medicare24. He declined to provide further details about their relationship because he has since been charged in connection with the Medicare24 SAPS contract.

He said he knew taxi boss Steve Motsumi and that he had done a commercial transaction with him wherein his company had lent Matlala R5m.