Suspended Ekurhuleni metro police deputy chief Brig Julius Mkhwanazi has denied he unlawfully fitted blue lights to vehicles belonging to attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Mkhwanazi testified before the Madlanga commission on Wednesday and addressed several key allegations of misconduct made against him by previous witnesses on his relationship with tenderpreneur Matlala.
WATCH | Mkhwanazi speaks on the blue lights attached to Matlala’s cars. He says he never saw the cars and doesn’t know about blue lights being installed on them.
— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) December 3, 2025
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Mkhwanazi said he approached Matlala to donate his old fleet to the municipality, but the process was never finalised because Revo Spies, the retired deputy chief of the city’s metro police department, started making “noise” about the donation.
He added he never authorised the installation of the blue lights on Matlala’s vehicles because the donation process was paused.
The process was initiated ... but then we cut it off, but there was this noise now from [the] media that ‘Mkhwanazi fitted blue lights [in Matlala’s cars], [and] Mkhwanazi took state resources and finances’.
— Brig Julius Mkhwanazi
“Those cars didn’t come and were not provided [with blue lights] by the City of Ekurhuleni. Even Mr Chris Stein [who handled the fleet registrations for the metro], did not see those vehicles. We never received the cars physically,” he said.
“The process was initiated ... but then we cut it off, but there was this noise now from [the] media that ‘Mkhwanazi fitted blue lights [in Matlala’s cars], [and] Mkhwanazi took state resources and finances’.”
Mkhwanazi said these accusations spiralled in 2023, and Spies wanted him to write a letter to address the vehicle blue lights accusations and document his side in the matter.
Following that request, his suspension was all over social media and newspapers, though internal processes were not yet finalised, he said.
Mkhwanazi said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) asked that he bring them all the documents related to the blue lights accusations.
Five months after his initial meeting with Ipid, he was called again to meet with them.
Mkhwanazi told the commission he knew nothing about the allegation linking him to a murder.
Sowetan
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