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 were discussing commissioners,” Senona replied.
Senona claimed the “risk assessment” he discussed with Matlala related only to absenteeism and shortages of manpower and vehicles, despite Matlala facing criminal investigations, the seizure of his company’s firearms and the raid of his home during the search for kidnapped businessman Jerry Boshoga.
“I was just applying my knowledge from my own experience of management of absenteeism. Should you have a serious problem in terms of members, how are you going to mitigate that?” Senona told the commission.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi described this explanation as “jarring”, noting that Senona admitted he knew Matlala’s firearms had been seized, yet claimed ignorance of his criminal record and alleged involvement in the looting of Tembisa Hospital.
Commissioners repeatedly challenged Senona’s assertion that he had begun “distancing” himself from Matlala after a 5 March 2025 news report detailing allegations of tender fraud.
Despite this claim, Senona conceded that he accompanied Matlala to a 15 April 2025 meeting with KZN police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi; a meeting Matlala said was intended to resolve purchase order problems linked to his R355-million SAPS health services tender.
“That is to assist,” Baloyi put it bluntly.
Senona was forced to concede: “I was assisting him in terms of moral support”.
Advocate Hassim pressed further, pointing out that Senona failed to report the meeting to SAPS authorities.
The commission also examined WhatsApp exchanges in which Senona encouraged Matlala to challenge the termination of his SAPS contract by National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.
After Matlala sent Senona the termination letter citing fraud and corruption, Senona replied with a photograph of former president Jacob Zuma with his head in his hands and added: “Sad.”
He then urged Matlala: “Take them on brother.”
Asked whether this was appropriate conduct for a senior law enforcement officer, Senona replied: “To me it is not inappropriate when you have a serious sympathy with a person who has lost this huge tender of R360 million.”
Commissioner Khumalo and Baloyi expressed alarm at Senona’s sharing of court affidavits related to Mozambican national Esmael Nangy, who accused police officers under Mkhwanazi’s command of kidnapping and torture.
Those documents, examined by the commission, contained police officers’ names, identity numbers, email addresses, and annexures including Nangy’s ID copy and marriage certificate.
“You have shared details of your subordinates, Crime Intelligence officers, including their ID numbers. In circumstances where you know Matlala is under investigation by the very same institutions,” Khumalo said.
Senona initially denied wrongdoing, later conceding it was an “oversight” and acknowledging he held top-secret security clearance at the time.
Commission chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga was openly unconvinced by Senona’s explanations, particularly his claim that Matlala silently sent him multiple confidential documents without any discussion.
“I will say to you that’s totally, totally improbable,” Madlanga said.
Madlanga observed that Senona’s relationship with Matlala appeared to end only after Matlala’s arrest.
“It seems to me that had Mr Matlala not been arrested, you would not have cut ties,” he said.
Senona ultimately acknowledged that it was “an error on my side” to encourage Matlala to take legal action against SAPS and conceded that the prolonged relationship was “a point of concern”.
The commission adjourned with Senona to continue his testimony for a third day on Thursday.
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