WhatsApp messages detailing ties between Matlala, top cop presented before Madlanga Commission

The head of Organised Crime in South Africa, Major-General Richard Shibiri, is accused of having close ties to criminally-accused tender tycoon, Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala.

This explosive revelation was made by Witness B, a member of Gauteng Organised Crime, who testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.

Witness B presented excerpts of WhatsApp messages exchanged between Major-General Shibiri and Matlala to the Commission as part of her evidence. The messages were recovered from Matlala's cellphone, which was seized during a police operation.

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The messages allegedly suggest that there was an exchange of money between Shibiri and the Tembisa Hospital tender tycoon.

While the WhatsApp messages were not made public, they were presented tothe chairperson of the Commission.

Evidence Leader, Advocate Thabang Pooe, compiled the messages and handed them over to Commission Chairperson, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.

Major-General Shibiri’s name has featured on several occasions before the Commission this week, where he has been painted as an untrustworthy cop with questionable motives when engaging detectives probing high-profile cases.

Witness B, who is a member of Organised Crime, testified partially in-camera and presented the messages as key evidence to the inquiry.

Advocate Pooe confirmed the nature of the messages to the Commission: “At a later stage she discovered in Mr Matlala’s phone that General Shibiri had constant communications and exchanges of money there, so we’ve also compiled those WhatsApp messages... to be attached to those set of papers.”