How a former 'street kid' is key to South Africa's police corruption inquiry

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. How a former 'street kid' is key to South Africa's police corruption inquiryImage source, Gallo Images via Getty ImagesImage caption, Vusimusi "Cat" Matlala addressed some of the accusations against him when he spoke to lawmakers about corruption in the police force last yearByKhanyisile NgcoboReporting fromJohannesburgPublished2 hours agoVusimusi "Cat" Matlala's name has haunted the proceedings of South Africa's major inquiry into alleged police corruption and, if things go to plan on Wednesday, the controversial businessman will at last be questioned himself. He has been accused of supplying generous gifts - including 20 impalas, the weight-loss drug Ozempic and personal loans - to help him buy influence and get police contracts. The 49-year-old, who has been in police custody for more than a year in connection with a separate case, is expected to get the chance to provide his side of the story as he comes before retired Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga and his panel.

The revelations at the Madlanga Commission, in progress for 10 months, have gripped South Africans and they are eager to hear how Matlala responds. Dressed in a Fendi shirt and Gucci glasses, Matlala did give evidence at a parallel corruption inquiry in parliament last November. He said he did not know senior police officers and politicians personally and denied corruption allegations though he admitted to having made donations for activities related to the African National Congress (ANC), the main party in the coalition government.

The Details

But he has not yet been asked to address the wider allegations made at the Madlanga Commission or the accusation that he was part of a drug trafficking cartel, allegedly known as the Big Five. Image source, Gallo Images via Getty ImagesImage caption, "Cat" Matlala and his wife Tsakane Matlala deny an attempted murder chargeMatlala may now be a central figure, but he only came to public prominence three years ago when his name was mentioned in news reports around alleged tender irregularities at a state hospital - though he said he had nothing to do with the tender. What little is known about his early life is based on what he told parliament last year.

He was born in 1976, when South Africa was still run by a white-minority government, and grew up in a township east of the capital, Pretoria. He told lawmakers that he was for a time raised by a single mother, who he said then "disappeared on me". "I had to raise myself.

I was actually a street kid," he told lawmakers. He eventually reunited with his mother in 2002, when she was terminally ill. After she died, Matlala learned that she had been sexually assaulted, which he said was because of her albinism.

Myths surround the condition include people believing that having sex with a woman with the condition would cure the men of illness. After leaving school, he said he started an informal business to make ends meet, which led to various brushes with the law.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.