Matlala fears self-incrimination in police tender probe, cites ongoing criminal investigation

Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala on Wednesday started his first day of testimony before Parliament’s ad hoc committee, but he’s raised concerns about possibly incriminating himself.

Matlala said he could not answer every detail surrounding his multi-million rand tender to supply medical services to the police, and how this could work against him in any future criminal investigations.

Matlala was giving evidence before the ad hoc committee investigating police corruption after initially threatening to interdict the committee to allow him time to further consult with his legal team.

Most of Wednesday’s evidence focused mainly on Matlala’s testimony in relation to tenders he received from the police.

He was also questioned by evidence leader Norman Arendse about how he was awarded the contract to supply medical services to the police.

But Matlala said he was not prepared to get into the details in case he incriminated himself.

"The thing is regarding this SAPS contract, I do not want to get deep into that thing because there’s an ongoing investigation about that. So, I will prefer not to talk further about the contract of SAPS because I don’t want to compromise the investigation or even incriminate myself."

But Arendse tried to allay his fears, saying he’s protected by parliamentary privilege.

"You are privileged in the sense that whatever you say cannot be used against you by any outside third party."

But Arendse said that he would lose any of the privileges if he lied or had committed fraud.

Matlala’s evidence continues.