WATCH | Heated exchange between Madlanga and lawyer as ‘Cat’ Matlala seeks postponement

Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, who was billed to testify at the Madlanga commission of inquiry on Wednesday, has applied for a postponement, saying he has another matter to attend to next week.

Matlala arrived under heavy guard with his advocate at the Brigitte Mabandla College in Pretoria.

His legal counsel, Annelene van den Heever, asked for her client’s appearance to be postponed as he has to attend a criminal trial in the Johannesburg high court next week.

In his affidavit, Matlala said he wants his testimony postponed “pending the finalisation of his trial”.

Commission chair, retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, asked Van der Heever why they could not proceed to hear matters that do not involve his upcoming criminal trial.

“Let’s address our minds to issues on which there is no question regarding them being heard by the commission. That is what my focus is on and on the basis about the plea deal and its relevance to my question,” he said.

Van der Heever said the application was important because at this point they could not distinguish between questions that could and could not be answered.

She told the commission her position was that Matlala would not submit a sworn statement before she had received the Independent Directorate Against Corruption’s material on the collapsed plea deal.

Sowetan