The State’s first witness in the trial of alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala was confronted on Thursday with a claim that none of the cartridge casings from his own firearm were recovered at the scene of the shooting he says he fought off.
Security officer Bethwell Mzamo Cele has told the Johannesburg High Court he fired 15 rounds from a 9mm pistol at attackers who opened fire outside a Centurion golf estate in August 2022, and that he showed police the exact spot where he was while shooting.
Cross-examining for accused No 3, Matlala, Advocate Annelene van den Heever put it to Cele that not a single 9mm casing was retrieved from the scene, only casings from AK-47 rifles.
Cele rejected the proposition twice. “That’s a lie,” he told the court.
Spent casings are the physical trace of a fired weapon leaves behind, and are ordinarily collected by investigators and matched to firearms through ballistic testing.
Cele has testified that his pistol was booked into a safe after the shooting and later taken by police for ballistic examination.
The exchange came during the morning in which van den Heever pressed the witness on the lighting at the scene, the position from which he fired, and how taxi tycoon Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni was shot and injured.
Asked why he had been unable to give police any description of the attackers, Cele said the area “was not well illuminated and everything happened fast”.
He agreed he had not been able to tell investigators even basic details such as the height or build of the men who opened fire.
In his sworn statements, Cele has said from the outset that he could not identify the shooters because it was dark.
Van den Heever also took the witness through the circumstances in which his statements were commissioned.
Cele told the court both of his earlier statements had been taken at the Centurion estate where he worked.
When shown the document, he accepted that the stamp recorded it as having been taken at Lyttelton.
A later statement, made in June 2025, was deposed in GaRankuwa, where Cele also viewed video footage of the incident, yet was signed in Pretoria.
Cele said he could not recall whether the commissioner had been present when he viewed the footage.
The questioning follows Cele’s allegation on Wednesday that police had altered his statement, which he described to the court as “fraud”.
Cele also described his position during the shooting in detail, telling the court he had taken cover behind a cement plant stand, lying on top of the plants and peeping through corner of the stand.
Van den Heever had not concluded his cross-examination by the midday adjournment.
Counsel for the remaining accused are still to question Cele, after which the State will re-examine.
Matlala and his co-accused Musa Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela, Tsakani Matlala and Nthabiseng Nzama, face 25 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder arising from three alleged shootings between August 2022 and January 2024. All five have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues.
