‘Cops put plastic bag over my head and suffocated me’ — ‘Cat’ Matlala’s co-accused - TimesLIVE

Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s co-accused Musa Kekana has told the high court in Johannesburg that he was tied up with his belt in the lounge of his home and repeatedly suffocated with a plastic bag.

Kekana testified on Tuesday — after the state’s provisional closure of the trial-within-a-trial — to determine the lawfulness of his arrest on April 17, 2024, and whether evidence obtained from searches and seizures conducted afterwards should be admitted in the current matter he faces with Matlala and others.

Kekana, Matlala, his wife Tsakane Matlala, Tiego Floyd Mabusela, and his daughter Nthabiseng Nzama face 25 counts, including conspiracy to commit murder, money laundering, and the attempted murders of actor and Matlala’s ex-girlfriend Tebogo Thobejane and taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni.

Led by his counsel advocate Riaan Gissing, Kekana gave a graphic step-by-step account of the day he was arrested in Kew, Johannesburg.

“I then felt him putting his knee on my back and placing the plastic bag over my head.” — Musa Kekana

Kekana said on the morning of his arrest he received a request for assistance from a friend whose vehicle had a tyre problem.

He left his home at number 34, 5th Road, Kew, in a Mercedes V-Class with his friend Michael Pule Tau, with Kekana driving.

They travelled to 8th Road, where Kekana said police vehicles arrived with their blue lights and sirens on.

“Police said we must disembark the vehicle. We disembarked the vehicle. They said we must raise our hands.”

He said officers then instructed them to lie on the grass.

While they were lying down, Kekana said an officer addressed him by his name.

He identified the officer as Capt Phumi Sekgobela, who then searched him before handcuffing him, then lifted him by his T-shirt and the handcuffs and took him towards a vehicle.

Kekana testified that he asked the officer to handle him gently because he feared he would be assaulted.

He said they then placed him in the boot of a white Toyota Fortuner.

Police drove him to his home in 5th Road, where they entered the property after obtaining keys from another officer.

He repeatedly told the court that no permission had been sought to search the vehicles or enter his house and that his rights had not been explained to him.

Inside the house, Kekana said Sekgobela took him into a bedroom and demanded information about firearms.

He denied knowing anything about firearms.

Kekana said Sekgobela covered him with a duvet and threatened him.

“He then said to me I must give him the firearms or he’ll blow my head [off].”

Kekana said he kept quiet and prayed because he believed he was going to die.

“I saw that I’m leaving this world.”

He alleged that he was then assaulted before being taken from the bedroom to the lounge.

“Upon arrival in the lounge, I was still being punched all over my body, and they were still saying I must give them firearms.

“He took my belt, made me lie on the floor on my stomach, and then took the belt and tied it on my legs and my hands at the back. Sekgobela was holding a plastic bag from the Courier Guy,” he said.

“I then felt him putting his knee on my back and placing the plastic bag over my head.”

Kekana said the bag was placed over his head about three or four times.

“So the placing of the bag over my head was suffocating me.”