Bheki Cele was given dossier naming ‘Cat’ Matlala as John Wick: Mogotsi

Former police minister Bheki Cele was given a detailed dossier that named security company owner Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala as the Mamelodi killer called “John Wick”.

This is according to businessman Brown Mogotsi, who is testifying at the Madlanga commission. Mogotsi alleged that a six-page intelligence report was presented to Cele in October 2018.

“It has a picture of John Wick and his ID number. It has his previous convictions, pending cases and everything — all the matters that were withdrawn against him,” he said.

Cele previously told parliament’s ad hoc committee, also probing allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, that he met Matlala in December 2024 at Durban’s Beverly Hills Hotel, where he was introduced to him by Bongani “Mabonga” Mpungose, the son of a taxi industry figure.

He denied any friendship with Matlala but confirmed he stayed “for free” at Matlala’s luxury penthouse.

Mogotsi said it was clear that Cele knew Matlala before, as the presentation was done in 2018.

In 2021 an unknown gunman, known only as John Wick, killed several gangsters, including members of an alleged Boko Haram gang. The gang demanded “protection money” of R300 or more from mainly foreign shopowners. The killing spree had allegedly been committed by a breakaway group from the Boko Haram gang calling themselves Bafarasai.

Earlier, Mogotsi told the commission he had been part of Umkhonto we Sizwe, with a particular focus on counterintelligence, from 1993 to 1995. He said he later became a crime intelligence agent.

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