Long before his name would echo in parliamentary hearings and anti-corruption protests, Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala was already well-versed in the language of violence and shadow deals. His criminal journey began in the early 2000s, where whispers in the townships of Gauteng placed him at the centre of a series of cash-in-transit heists and house robberies. He was quick and brutal, earning the nickname “CAT” for his ability to vanish and strike without warning.
Amidst institutional weaknesses and a rising organised crime ecosystem, Matlala was building his network, brick by bloody brick. He knew the value of loyalty, fear and most of all, connections. But it was a meeting years later that would turn his story from gangster to government-linked kingpin. Hangwani Morgan Maumela, a politically connected businessman with ties to procurement offices across Gauteng, especially Tembisa Hospital. Together, they forged a deadly alliance, one that would span ghost companies, corrupted public officials and a healthcare looting spree that would eventually claim lives, including one of South Africa’s bravest whistleblowers.
By the late 2010, Maumela and Vusi had perfected a strategy to loot from the public purse, particularly from the already strained health sector. Using a sophisticated network of over 200 front companies, many of which were registered under associates, lovers or employees, they rigged the RFQ, request for quotation system. They’d submit quotes from multiple controlled entities to guarantee one of their companies would win. One notorious transaction revealed by investigative journalists showed just how inflated these deals were. A basic medical supply, costing 3.20 per rand unit, was billed to Tembisa Hospital at 152 rand per unit. One order involving 8,000 units should have cost just 25,600 rand, but was instead billed at over 1.2 million rand, a markup of over 4,500%.
But their reign of theft was not going unnoticed. In 2021, a courageous woman named Babita Deokaran, acting as the Chief Director of Financial Accounting at the Gauteng Department of Health, noticed irregularities in Tembisa Hospital’s procurement books. Suspicious of the massive payouts going to obscure companies, including those tied to Maumela and allegedly Vusi, she ordered 70 million rand in payments to be frozen.
On the morning of the 23rd of August 2021, Babita was shot multiple times outside her home in Mondeor, Johannesburg. The assassins fled, leaving behind a nation shocked by the execution of a civil servant who had merely done her job. Several suspects were arrested, and links to Maumela emerged almost immediately. Although no official indictment named Vusi, rumors among police insiders and local journalists painted a damning picture. Not long after Babita’s death, the public started hearing about Vusi’s other life, one far darker than his tender schemes.
In late 2021, Vusi allegedly shot and killed his best friend Kosi in Mamelodi, reportedly over a debt that Madlala refused to pay. This murder, though never officially connected to Vusi, became folklore in Pretoria’s underworld, where friends turned enemies ended up in coffins, not courtrooms. The death of Kosi marked a shift.
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