Former police minister Bheki Cele has taken a step back from his earlier assertions regarding his relationship with attempted murder-accused tycoon Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

Cele had previously insisted he knew Matlala “very well,” but during questioning on Friday, he conceded that a mere acquaintance of three months may not validate such a claim.

He testified on Thursday with confidence, claiming familiarity with Matlala after having stayed at his Pretoria apartment on two separate occasions.

However, under questioning from Patriotic Alliance MP Ashley Sauls, Cele changed his tune, admitting that referring to their relationship as “very well” was an overstated description.

“On reflection, very well would have been an overarching kind of a term,” Cele remarked, revising his earlier assertion.

This happened amidst a discussion about Babita Deokaran, a whistleblower in the Gauteng Health Department who was tragically murdered outside her home in connection with Tembisa hospital corruption.

Sauls provocatively claimed that Deokaran “paid for your free stay with her life,” further intensifying the pressure on Cele.

“If I need to withdraw, I will take very well out,” said Cele.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach highlighted the inconsistency in Cele’s narrative, pressing him to explain why he initially claimed a close knowledge of Matlala, despite later confessing uncertainty regarding their relationship.

“You are a seasoned campaigner and you are not a child. You have been around the block and you are an experienced human being,” Breytenbach said.

Cele reiterated that it could not be that you knew a person very well in three or four months.

“It is on reflection and tapping on an understanding that human beings do make mistakes, but the real matter when you realise what has happened, you say I made a mistake.”

Breytenbach found it hard that Cele met Matlala for the first time at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Durban last December.

Cele claimed that he read a story about corruption at Tembisa Hospital two weeks before he met Matlala after Bongani Mpungose, who is a son of Sputla Mpungose, a KwaZulu-Natal taxi businessman, set up the meeting.

Breytenbach enquired whether Cele did not know that Matlala has a history of brushes with the law that was not in a positive sense.

Cele said he had wondered upon finding information about Matlala that flew below the radar.

“The crux of the matter is that I did not know him.”

Cele said his behaviour and attitude towards Matlala would definitely change and he has been asking himself why he met him in the first place.

“Life would have been much easier if I did not meet him. You sit here, you reflect and say it would have been better,” said Cele.

The former minister confirmed on Thursday that he met Matlala at Zimbali Estate in Durban at a house belonging to Hangwani Maumela, a business investigated by the SIU in connection with looting at Tembisa hospital, he said he has no relationship.

“I can confirm I do not have a relationship with Maumela,” said Cele about the man implicated by the SIU in the Tembisa Hospital corruption.

When chief evidence leader, Advocate Norman Arendse, SC, quizzed him about his impressions of Matlala, Cele said: “I met a person who was not arrested. He looks like a cool guy until you begin to get records.”

Cele claimed that Mpungose did not tell him he was going to meet Matlala.

He also confirmed that that he twice stayed at Matlala’s apartment and had no idea of allegations against him at the time despite reading newspaper articles.

When ANC MP Xola Nqola asked why he felt comfortable in accepting an offer to stay freely at a stranger’s house, Cele said he was not in government.

“If I were in government, I would have declared, but I declare to nobody now.”

Responding to DA MP Ian Cameron, Cele said: “It is not because it was freebies. I am not working. I am a pensioner. It’s a nice place by the way.”

ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli asked Cele whether his acquaintance with Matlala has a negative impact on the ANC’s standing and contributed indirectly to diminishing its standing by his association with such a character.

Cele said when he met Matlala he was not arrested and did not know he was a wanted. 

“I guess many people would not have known as I would have not known. I repeat what I said, taking what I know now. I would not behave as I behaved before if I knew who he is and what kind of character he is,” he said.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za

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