BREAKING NEWS: Cat Matlala is spilling the beans alleging that IDAC drafted false claims against senior police generals
Businessman describes alleged 02h00 McDonald’s meeting and distances himself from statements linked to his failed plea deal.
9 November 2026
Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has made explosive allegations at the Madlanga Commission, claiming that investigators from the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) drafted false and exaggerated statements implicating senior police generals during negotiations over his failed plea agreement.
According to Matlala’s account, members of the IDAC team took him out at approximately 02h00 and went with him to McDonald’s, where they allegedly told him their targets were General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, General Fannie Masemola and General Dumisani Khumalo.
Matlala alleged that the investigators told him they were interested in the three generals rather than him.
He claimed that material concerning the generals, contained in documents associated with the collapsed plea deal, included lies and exaggerations. He further alleged that IDAC itself had written parts of that material.
Explaining why he was distancing himself from the statements, Matlala said he did not want the commission to believe he was giving dishonest evidence when, according to him, some of the information had been inserted by investigators.
He maintained that certain claims concerned matters he knew nothing about and would therefore be unable to explain or defend under questioning.
The allegations place the preparation and reliability of the disputed statements under scrutiny. They remain Matlala’s account and do not, on their own, establish misconduct by IDAC or wrongdoing by any of the generals named.
His testimony comes amid a dispute over whether the commission may question him about documents connected to his unsuccessful plea negotiations.
Earlier on Monday, commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga rejected an application by Matlala’s legal team to prevent questioning on those documents. Eyewitness News reported that the agreement had collapsed after Matlala rejected a proposed 12-year prison sentence.
Matlala’s lawyer, Advocate Annelene van den Heever, separately challenged the National Prosecuting Authority’s disclosure of the statement to the commission. Evidence leader Advocate Mahlape Sello argued that restrictions relating to its use in criminal proceedings did not prevent the commission from considering it, according to the Mail & Guardian.
The central questions now raised by Matlala’s account concern who supplied the disputed information, who drafted it and whether independent evidence supports it.
An IDAC response to the specific allegations about the McDonald’s meeting and the alleged fabrication of statements was not available in the material reviewed for this article.