‘Take them on, brother’: Hawks boss grilled over cosy ties to Cat Matlala

By Johnathan Paoli

KZN Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona found himself in conflict with the Madlanga Commission, as commissioners repeatedly rejected his insistence that his relationship with controversial tenderpreneur Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala was above board.

Testifying after lunch on his second day, Senona insisted that his interactions with Matlala: including advising him, accompanying him to meetings with senior police leadership, and sharing sensitive documents; were benign, empathetic and appropriate, rather than improper or corrupt.

Evidence leader and senior counsel Adila Hassim pressed Senona on his evolving explanation that he had merely offered “business advice” to Matlala, despite conceding that he was neither a businessperson nor a security-sector expert.

“From my perspective, I’m not a business person. I’m a police officer, but these are the things that you may look at and then he was comfortable and happy and said thank you. “So those are some of the issues that we