The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry has postponed the testimony of alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala to 1 September after tense exchanges between his legal team and the commission on Wednesday, 15 July 2026.
The postponement follows the collapse of a cooperation agreement between Matlala and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC). Matlala recently withdrew from the agreement, which would have seen him cooperate with prosecutors, leaving uncertainty over the evidence he is prepared to give in both the commission and his pending criminal case.
Wednesday’s proceedings were dominated by a heated debate between Matlala’s lawyer, Annalene van den Heever, and members of the commission over why his testimony should be postponed once again.
The commission heard that Matlala cannot testify at this stage because doing so could prejudice his upcoming corruption trial, particularly after the breakdown of the agreement with IDAC.
However, commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga questioned why the commission should have to wait for the criminal proceedings before hearing Matlala’s version of events.
“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,” Madlanga said.
Van den Heever argued that her client remains constrained by ongoing legal processes and cannot freely answer questions while matters linked to the collapsed agreement and his criminal case are still unfolding.
“I cannot, at this point, as an officer of the court, distinguish between what we can answer and cannot answer,” she said.
Madlanga responded: “You will never understand me, but please go on.”
“I do understand you quite clearly,” Van den Heever replied.
“You don’t, you don’t,” Madlanga said.
Van den Heever maintained that Matlala’s scope to answer questions was extremely limited.
“The only issue my client can answer, chairperson, at this point is who he doesn’t know,” she told the commission.
The commission subsequently granted the postponement, with Matlala now expected to testify on 1 September.
