KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has clarified why he withdrew corruption allegations previously levelled against former police minister Bheki Cele.
Testifying before a parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, Mkhwanazi previously accused Cele of receiving illicit payments from controversial businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
At the time, Mkhwanazi claimed Cele had provided a third-party bank account number into which Matlala deposited funds, saying: “This is not just about phone calls. It’s about money. It’s criminal.”
However, during Cele’s subsequent appearance before the committee, evidence leader Norman Arendse revealed that Mkhwanazi had retracted the claim. Mkhwanazi explained that the investigative team analysing Matlala’s mobile data had misinterpreted the information.
Returning to the witness stand on Wednesday, Mkhwanazi admitted he had relied on flawed data provided by his analysts.
“In preparation for my evidence before the committee, I relied on information provided by the analyst regarding the cellphone data from Matlala’s phones,” Mkhwanazi said. He noted that the analyst had been processing data from two of Matlala’s mobile devices.
When [Matlala] eventually realised his mistake, he asked, ‘Who are you?’ After the person explained, Matlala deleted the messages
— Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Mkhwanazi detailed how the confusion arose. Investigators found a contact saved in Matlala’s phone as “Bab Ndosi” — a reference to Cele’s clan name. While Cele’s actual number was saved on the devices, the “Bab Ndosi” contact was a different number entirely.
The error occurred because the “Bab Ndosi” number differed from Cele’s actual phone number by only a single digit.
“I think the system flagged a different number because of this similarity. The analyst has since explained how this error happened,” Mkhwanazi said. “We also believe Matlala made the same error. He likely believed he was communicating with the minister when he addressed ‘Bab Ndosi’.”
Mkhwanazi revealed that the actual owner of the misidentified number lives in Mpumalanga and has since provided a formal statement to the police.
According to the witness, the man received several WhatsApp messages containing bank records that he did not understand. He engaged in the conversation to clarify the sender’s intent. During the exchange, Matlala — believing he was speaking to Cele — requested an account number to send money. The Mpumalanga resident provided his own account details, and Matlala unknowingly paid the funds to the wrong person.
“When [Matlala] eventually realised his mistake, he asked, ‘Who are you?’ After the person explained, Matlala deleted the messages,” Mkhwanazi said.
Mkhwanazi emphasised that the investigative team fell into the same trap as Matlala because of the nearly identical phone numbers.
“It was not our intention to mislead this committee. It was an error made by the analysis team during the data extraction process.”
TimesLIVE
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