WhatsApp messages between two of Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s henchmen reveal how they allegedly plotted the kidnapping of Pretoria businessman Jerry Boshoga in 2024.
In the messages, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Times, Tiego Mabusela and Musa Kekana also discuss how they will charge “5clipa” (R500,000) each for the kidnapping.
Boshoga was abducted in Centurion in November 2024. Despite several ransom demands and videos, he has not been seen since — and it is not known whether he is still alive.
Me and u we tell the Team that it’s 1 million just to grab and deliver him and after 3 days we collect
— Tiego Mabusela in WhatsApp message to Musa Kekana
Mabusela and Kekana are described as part of a feared gang operating in and around Atteridgeville, Pretoria. They have allegedly carried out extortions, contract killings and kidnappings.
They are charged along with Matlala in the attempted murders of:
- taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni;
- DJ Vettys (Seunkie Mokubung); and
- actress Tebogo Thobejane, Matlala’s former girlfriend.
They are also charged alongside Katiso “KT” Molefe in the murders of:
- DJ Sumbody (Oupa John Sefoka);
- DJ Vintos (Hector Buthelezi); and
- Armand Swart, a Vereeniging engineer allegedly killed in a case of mistaken identity.
In a WhatsApp conversation between Mabusela and Kekana on the night of February 14 2024, Mabusela shares a picture of Boshoga with a follow-up message that simply says, “That’s the guy.”
Mabusela goes on to describe Boshoga as a well-known person in Pretoria, while Kekana asks for his name so he can search for other photos of him on social media.
“Me and u we tell the Team that it’s 1 million just to grab and deliver him and after 3 days we collect or is it too much [?] ... Cause I think 5clipa [R500k each] aside for us [is] fine for us … if we are 4 it’s 250k each it’s enough dnt u think?” Mabusela says in the messages.
Kekana responds, saying: “1M is fine I think they be fine with it cause it’s just taking him.”
Police have homed in on Mabusela and Kekana, whom they believe to be henchmen Matlala used to “carry out criminal activity on his behalf”.
Police allege Mabusela has a long history of communicating with Matlala, dating back to 2021.
“There are numbers which [Mabusela] can be seen communicating with during the time frame of Thobejane’s attempted killing, as well as during later conversations about planned killings and kidnappings where [it is implied that Cat was] involved,” the police said in their investigation.
Mabusela and Kekana were found by the police to have planned the hit on Thobejane and Sibanyoni on WhatsApp as well, after their phones were confiscated following their arrest in 2024.
Following the circulation of a harrowing video depicting Boshoga being assaulted, he vanished without a trace, and his whereabouts remain unknown to investigators
Boshoga was kidnapped while attending a meeting at a KFC in Wierdapark, Centurion, and the abductors demanded a ransom of R60m from his family. The kidnappers later reduced their demand to R25m in Bitcoin, and then finally to R10m.
Following the circulation of a harrowing video depicting Boshoga being assaulted, he vanished without a trace, and his whereabouts remain unknown to investigators.
According to reports, Boshoga was a tenderpreneur who also ran a VIP protection services company and a farm. His kidnapping received intense scrutiny when Witness C testified at the Madlanga commission of inquiry into corruption in the justice system.
Witness C told the commission police had raided Matlala’s home in December 2024 after receiving information Boshoga had been held there against his will.
“We were informed there was information that led us to the house of Mr Matlala, as a person identified to be the person behind the kidnapping, and further information was that Mr Boshoga had been kept captive at the house of one Mr Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala,” Witness C said.
However, police did not find Boshoga in the house, and investigations are continuing.
“Mr Jerry Boshoga was not in that room, but there was a white sheet that was very distinctive because it had torn edges and sides, and it was manually tied to the window,“ Witness C told the commission. ”And that white sheet, it is distinctive because when one of the videos for the ransom was sent to the family of Mr Jerry Boshoga [the sheet was visible in the footage], and we could see that the sheet [in the room] resembled the [one in the video].”
However, Matlala — who said Boshoga was his friend — claimed he had lent him R5m, which he had said he was going to use to buy a drug-processing machine.
[ ‘It’s uncalled for’: Malema condemns ‘harassment’ of Matlala’s family by PKTTOpens in new window ]
Matlala denied any involvement in the kidnapping. In November, he told parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system that Boshoga’s brother had told him he had been kidnapped in Centurion.
When Matlala was asked by EFF leader Julius Malema in parliament to speak directly to Boshoga’s mother about his disappearance, Matlala said she was being misled into believing he was the one who had kidnapped him.
“I will say that they are misleading her,” Matlala said. “And I think the people who are misleading her are the people who put me in prison, because I think they even went and told this same thing … to Jerry’s wife. So I will say she is being misled, because they know very well [that] I … was the first person who was looking for Jerry everywhere.
“So when they say I kidnapped him, it is because maybe of my suggestion that [we should] tell the police the truth. And then they were not comfortable with that. And I said to them, ‘It is either we do that or never find him. Because if we do not give them a clue, how are the police going to know where he is?’ They were emphasising that we need to save his image. So me and them — we ended up not agreeing on one thing. Even myself, I was tired of looking for someone, but we must lie to the police on the other side.”
Crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo told parliament’s ad hoc committee in January that investigations into Boshoga’s kidnapping were ongoing, but there had been “challenges”.
“The team was working on that case as instructed by the national commissioner,” Khumalo said. “But soon after that operation, that case was reallocated by the deputy national commissioner Gen [Shadrack] Sibiya to another team. Recently, the national commissioner has directed that the team must resume the investigation of this … case.”
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