Matlala may now be a central figure, but he only became known to the public three years ago when his name was mentioned in news reports about alleged tender fraud at a state hospital. But he said he had nothing to do with the bid.
What little is known about his early life is based on what he told Congress last year.
He was born in 1976, when South Africa was ruled by a white minority government, and grew up in a village east of the capital, Pretoria.
He told lawmakers that he had been raised by a single mother for some time, but that her mother “was taken away from me.”
“I had to raise myself. I was actually a street child,” he told lawmakers.
He was eventually reunited with his mother in 2002 when she became terminally ill.
After her death, Matlala learned she had been sexually assaulted, which he said was due to her albinism. Myths surrounding the condition include people believing that having sex with a woman who has the condition will cure a man’s condition.
He said that after leaving school, he started an informal business to make a living, which got him into several troubles with the law.
In 2001, he was convicted of possession of stolen property and served time in prison.
Over the years, he was arrested for a series of crimes, including home burglary, cash-in-transit robbery, and assault. He denied involvement in all of them and was either acquitted or had the charges against him dropped.
He told a parliamentary committee that his nickname “Cat” did not refer to his “nine lives” and ability to survive troubles, as some have suggested, but because of his large family, with a wife and nine children.
But things caught up with him in May 2025 when he was arrested and charged with attempted murder, which he denied. His wife was also charged with the same charges, but denies the charges. Unlike her husband, she was granted bail.
He was later indicted on corruption charges for providing medical services to police, and pleaded guilty last month as part of a deal with prosecutors, but later withdrew his plea after the agreement fell apart.
