Suspended EMPD deputy chief backtracks on letter linking him to Cat Security

Suspended EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi has challenged the interpretation of a letter he signed confirming a working relationship with businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s security company, which he established without approval from his bosses.

Mkhwanazi appeared before the Madlanga inquiry into allegations of criminal infiltration and corruption in the justice cluster on Wednesday and answered questions about his relationship with Matlala.

He denied the relationship with Matlala’s security company was ever formalised and said it was only a proposed working relationship.

This contradicted a letter he had sent to EMPD chief Isaac Mapiyeye, in which he had confirmed a working relationship with Matlala’s security company while responding to allegations that he had authorised the fitting of blue lights to Matlala’s vehicles.

“I would like to confirm a working relationship with Cat Security Services and its subsidiaries, Medicare24 medical services,” Mkhwanazi’s letter reads.

“We are also involved in crime-combating operations with Cat Security Services, together with other security services that are committed to crime fighting in the city. Cat Security is assisting EMPD by providing additional technology.”

The letter also refers to the security company providing tracking, monitoring suspects and providing other “resources” to EMPD.

When quizzed by commissioner Sandile Khumalo about the letter’s reference to additional technology and crime operations, Mkhwanazi backtracked and said the letter, written in February 2023, was meant to express the intent to work with the security company in the future.

“It was not yet implemented. We were promised that they would assist us in terms of tracking and tracing wanted suspects,” Mkhwanazi said.

Pressed about the tense of the letter suggesting that the assistance was provided from 2021, Mkhwanazi said, “Maybe it is my English,” adding that he meant in the future.

“You were asked to explain EMPD’s relationship with Cat Security Services in 2023, which means in this document you were describing a relationship that already existed. You were not talking about things that would happen in the future,” Khumalo said.

Though Mkhwanazi said there was no written document formalising a relationship with EMPD and Cat Security, Khumalo said it was concerning that the security company was conducting crime-fighting operations.

Mkhwanazi responded, “We had not yet worked with them. The letter was supposed to say we are intending to in the future. He [Matlala’s company] never did those things with us.”

Mkhwanazi told the commission a memorandum under his name suggesting he had approved an “endless” relationship with EMPD and highlighting seven vehicles belonging to Matlala to be used in the provision of VIP protection, was false.

He, however, accepted that four of the vehicles were later offered to the metro as donations.

He said he supported a proposal from Matlala’s companies to assist officers with medical services, and in exchange the metro would fit blue and red lights to private companies’ vehicles.

Mkhwanazi said the process was never undertaken because his seniors did not approve the proposal.

Mkhwanazi said that, reflecting back on the proposal, it was not legally sound.

When Mkhwanazi was taken through evidence and questioned about the relationship, at one point he remarked, “I am dead now,” as he struggled to answer some questions.

Mkhwanazi has told the Madlanga commission he asked Matlala to donate his old fleet to the municipality to assist the department, but the process was not finalised.

“We never received the cars physically,” he said.

“I did not install blue lights; I did not see the cars; they did not come to the city.”