Former police minister Bheki Cele before the Ad Hoc Committee on Friday.

• Former police minister Bheki Cele has clarified that he does not know Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala “very well”.
• He backtracked on his assertions after being questioned by DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach on Friday.
• He was concluding his testimony before the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration of the SAPS.

Former police minister Bheki Cele has backtracked on his relationship with tenderpreneur Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, who is accused of attempted murder, clarifying that he does not know Matlala “very well”.

On Friday, Cele appeared for his last day of testimony before the parliamentary ad hoc committee established to investigate allegations of criminal infiltration of the SA Police Service (SAPS).

When questioned about his relationship with Matlala on Thursday, Cele made it clear that he knows Matlala very well. He even repeated it twice when asked about it.

But on Friday, when DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach questioned him about his relationship with Matlala, he backtracked.

“You sit there with a lot of confidence, you speak your mind, which is not a bad quality, and you’re knowledgeable. But this morning, you were quick to retract the fact that you said that you knew Matlala very well. I’d like to explore with you why you initially said very well because you’re a seasoned campaigner and you’ve been around the block,” Breytenbach said.

Cele said knowing someone “very well” would need time and association on more than one occasion.

“Knowing each other and having drinks together maybe can indicate a very well relationship... A single work meeting or a meeting in a hotel cannot mean you know a person very well. So it’s on reflection and on again taking on the understanding that humans do make mistakes,” he said.

Cele said that with all the cases against Matlala, it was strange to him that he had never heard of Matlala.

“I’ve seen it now, and that’s why, in one statement that I read, I wonder how he flew below the radar for me when it comes to that situation,” he said.

READ | Top cop who failed to solve Murray murders had ‘exchanges of money’ with Matlala

During his testimony on Thursday, Cele told the committee that he accepted the offer from Matlala to stay at his luxury penthouse in Tshwane.

While staying at Matlala’s luxury penthouse in the capital city, Cele said he had no idea about the allegations against the tenderpreneur.

MPs, including ANC MP Xola Nqola, pressed Cele on why he felt comfortable accepting an invitation to sleep at a stranger’s house.

Cele responded: “No, I took it. I’m not in government.”

He added that if he had been in government, he would have declared it, but now he doesn’t have to declare it to anyone.

He also told MK Party MP Sibonelo Nomvalo that he was happy to accept accommodation to sleep for free in Pretoria.

He confirmed that he spent the night twice at Matlala’s penthouse.

News24 reported that Cele called Matlala repeatedly just days before his dubious SAPS tender, worth R360 million, was cancelled and on the eve of his arrest in connection with the attempted murder of his former lover, actress and socialite Tebogo Thobejane.

ANC MP Khusela Diko asked Cele whether he considers national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and KwaZulu-Natal top cop Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as “his people”.

Cele responded: “I’m not a king.”

He said they were part of a group of people with whom he worked very well.

“I would undermine them if I said they are his people,” he said.

Diko also read a Signal message that was allegedly sent to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu by Brown Mogotsi, who took a screenshot of it and allegedly sent it to Matlala.

READ | WhatsApps show ‘constant exchanges of money’ between Matlala, police organised crime head

That was the message in which Mogotsi referred to a court case that they could use “to deal with” Crime Intelligence boss Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo.

Cele said he found that Khumalo is always “at the centre of being a target” and suspended deputy national commissioner Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya is “always ready to shoot at Khumalo”.

Cele added that he suspects Khumalo’s effectiveness in Crime Intelligence is the reason behind a plot to remove him.

“He has dealt with some dinosaurs there,” he said.