By Johnathan Paoli
Evidence leaders at the Madlanga Commission have linked payments to suspended EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi to a string of alleged favours for Medicare24 CEO Mike van Wyk and businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.
Although Van Wyk was not in the witness box on Monday after his testimony was postponed because of “panic attacks”, the commission proceeded to examine WhatsApp messages, bank records and documents that evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson said pointed to a questionable relationship between Van Wyk, Matlala and Mkhwanazi.
Van Wyk’s attorney, Sandy du Plessis, was present during the proceedings.
Engaging with Van Wyk’s affidavit, Chaskalson said the communications and financial records suggested Mkhwanazi repeatedly provided assistance to Van Wyk and Matlala while receiving payments that required further explanation.
“Now, all of these favours that Commissioner Mkhwanazi is being asked to provide and in many cases is providing to Mr Matlala and to Mr Van Wyk, we submit, look like favours for which gratifications are paid,” Chaskalson said.
He referred the commission to Mkhwanazi’s bank statements, highlighting several deposits allegedly linked to Matlala and his businesses.
“On the 5th of May there is a payment of R20,000 which comes with the reference ‘Matlala’. That amount was paid from the accounts of Cat VIP, Cat Protection and Security,” he said.
Chaskalson said another payment of R30,000 entered Mkhwanazi’s account on 10 December 2022 from Black AK Trading Suppliers Limited, another Matlala-linked company.
He also highlighted what he described as a telling sequence of events involving Van Wyk.
“We see that on the 17th of June 2022, Commissioner Mkhwanazi messages Mr Van Wyk saying, ‘Good morning Mike. Poverty is dealing with me. I’m home’. After Commissioner Mkhwanazi complains about his poverty to Mr Van Wyk on the 17th of June, on the 18th of June a R20,000 payment is made into his account with the reference ‘Matlala’,” Chaskalson said.
The commission then turned to evidence suggesting Van Wyk sought official assistance from Mkhwanazi to secure police-style privileges for his private companies.
Chaskalson presented draft memoranda of understanding between the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department and Van Wyk’s companies, Medicare24 and Anubis Protection Services.
“What we see in these MOUs is what’s going to loom, or what has already loomed large in the proceedings of the commission. It’s this process by which a private company is trying to put itself in a position to get blue lights and be part of the EMPD, have access to vehicles which are part of the EMPD fleet,” he said.
The evidence included voice notes in which Van Wyk sought Mkhwanazi’s assistance after buying a new vehicle.
Chaskalson said the exchanges appeared to relate to efforts to register private vehicles on the EMPD fleet, allegedly to justify the use of blue lights and EMPD branding.
The commission also examined businessman Steve Motsumi’s financial relationship with Medicare24 Tshwane District, hearing evidence that he was due to provide a R20 million loan to the company while also being granted authority over its emergency vehicle fleet.
Chaskalson said WhatsApp exchanges showed Matlala asking Motsumi for his company details before forwarding them to Van Wyk, who subsequently drafted a letter authorising Motsumi’s company, Vhazwimi Security and Protection, to “register and operate all our emergency response vehicles throughout South Africa”.
The commission heard that a draft loan agreement later provided for Motsumi to receive repayments calculated at 20% of the company’s monthly net profits until July 2027, or until he had received R100 million in returns.
Chaskalson described the arrangement as “somewhere between a loan and an equity investment”, adding that the commission wanted clarity from Van Wyk on whether the vehicles made available to Motsumi’s company included those allegedly fitted with EMPD-authorised blue lights.
Concluding his presentation, Chaskalson stressed that many of the commission’s conclusions remained provisional.
“We accept that a lot of what we are doing here is reasoning by inference from documents and that our inferences may have been mistakenly drawn, but we submit that they are most likely inferences,” he said.
He requested three days to compile a comprehensive list of the inferences the commission would be asked to draw from the chats, allowing Van Wyk’s legal team an opportunity to respond by affidavit.
Proceedings are expected to continue on Tuesday morning, when the commission is set to deal with the in-camera application of “Witness K”.
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