• On Wednesday, Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala appeared in court with businessman James Murray and 12 former and current SAPS officers.
• The case centres on a since-cancelled R360-million police health tender Matlala was awarded in 2024.
• The officers and Murray were granted bail of between R40 000 and R80 000 each.

The 12 cops who allegedly pushed through Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s R360-million police health tender have been granted bail ranging from R40 000 to R80 000.

They were arrested along with Matlala and businessman James Murray on Tuesday and made their first appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Bail was only opposed for Matlala, but he opted not to make an application at this stage in any case.

The alleged criminal kingpin is already in prison awaiting trial, having previously been denied bail in a separate case involving charges of attempted murder.

Bail was, meanwhile, granted – unopposed – for the officers as well as for Murray.

The officers accused alongside Matlala and Murray include:

• Major-General Busisiwe Temba
• Brigadier Kirsty Jonker
• Brigadier Petunia Lenono (retired)
• Brigadier Ofentse Thlhoale
• Brigadier Rachel Matjeng
• Brigadier Alpheus Ngema
• Brigadier Patrick Nethengwe
• Colonel Tumisho Maleka
• Colonel Nonjabulo Mngadi
• Colonel Anton Paulsen
• Colonel Johannes Monyai
• Captain Brian Cartwright

The case against them centres on Matlala scooping a three-year tender to provide health and risk screening to 180 000 police employees through his company, Medicare24 Tswane District, in June 2024.

This was despite him having been identified as a central figure in the Tembisa Hospital looting believed to have cost the Gauteng Health Department’s Babita Deokaran her life.

The tender was eventually cancelled by Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola and a probe was launched by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).

READ | Grabbed at their desks: Inside top cop arrest blitz over Cat Matlala’s R360m police tender

News24 was the first to report on Matlala and the tender – both of which have featured heavily at the Madlanga Commission and at the ad hoc parliamentary committee that was set up to probe allegations of police capture.

According to the charge sheet, the tender was riddled with issues – from not being advertised for the required 21 days, to cops Matlala knew assisting him with his submission and even sitting on the bid evaluation committee (BEC).

In addition, the State says “due diligence” was conducted at the premises of Medicare 24 Holdings in Boksburg, not those of Medicare24 Tswane District – and that “several misrepresentations” had been made.

These were around the business’ address; its personnel; it having a national footprint, mobile units in all nine provinces; and “a computerised system that was compatible with the PERSAP [personnel and salary] system”.

Three separate payments totalling R300 000 – which Matlala made to an account for a butchery, whose account details Matjeng had provided to him when he asked her for bank details that were not hers – are also central to the case.

“The movement of the funds emanating from the contract induced by fraud … through various accounts … resulted in the disguise or concealment of the nature, source, origin, movement, location or disposition of the said funds,” states the charge sheet.

Matjeng previously told the Madlanga Commission that Matlala was her lover and had showered her with cash and gifts, including the weight loss drug Ozempic, because he was a romantic and not because they were bribes.

Interestingly, Matlala and Matjeng – as well as Murray – are now sharing an attorney.

While the State did not oppose bail, State advocate Santhos Manilall asked that it be set at R80 000 for Murray, Cartwright, Matjeng and Maleka; and at R40 000 for the other accused.

Almost all of them, through their legal representatives, objected to this – asking, instead, for amounts ranging from R5 000 to R20 000.

READ | National police commissioner Fannie Masemola to be charged over ‘Cat’ Matlala’s R360m tender

Manilall, in response, charged that while they had all conceded the seriousness of the matter, they had “merely paid lip service” to it.

He highlighted that hundreds of millions of rands were involved and stressed that “the tender was awarded due to [Matlala] using his influences within the SAPS”.

“There is a huge outcry from the public that members of the SAPS, who are meant to be their protectors, are involved in such criminality,” he continued – labelling corruption “the scourge of society”.

He explained that the State had asked for higher bail amounts for some accused “because of the nature of the offences they’re being charged with versus the other accused who were members of the BEC”.

He described Murray and Cartwright as “main instigators” and said Matjeng had “the most number of counts and charges against her”.

Maleka, meanwhile, had another pending case against her, which also involved procurement fraud, he said.

“We can see a pattern”.

When it came to the others, Manilall highlighted that they included brigadiers, colonels, and one major-general.

“They are considered by members of the public as the upper guardians and they’ve been charged with being involved in such serious crimes,” he said.

“These BEC members went and were subject to a presentation without doing proper due diligence and therefore they allowed this bid to move to the next stage, to the bid adjudication committee. They could have put a stop to this”.

Ultimately, Magistrate Len Muller said the court had to take into account that this was “a very, very serious offence”.

“Furthermore the court must also bear in mind if the accused are convicted, they may face a long term of imprisonment. There is also a big public outcry with regard to this type of offence,” he added.

He stressed that the officers in the dock were “high-ranking police officials who were supposed to serve and protect”.

“But it seems to the court they haven’t done so with full heart,” he continued.

He was “quite surprised by the reasonableness of the State”, he said, and was happy with its suggestions on bail.

The case was postponed until 13 May.

In the interim, the accused were ordered not to interfere with any witnesses or leave the country without informing the investigating officer. They also have to hand over their passports.

Matlala, meanwhile, will return to court next month for consultations with the State.