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Controversial North West figure and businessman Oupa Brown Mogotsi, a former underground operative of the South African Police Service, has dropped a bombshell and accused King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lt General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of being American CIA spies.

Mogotsi, a former uMkhonto we Sizwe underground operative that was later in 1999 appointed to the SAPS crime intellegence and said his initial task was to investigate ‘Cat’ Matlala’s cartel links but ended up stumbling on other issues of Lt General Mkhwanazi, former Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Commissioner of the SAPS Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola’s shenanigans, was testifying in the Justice Madlanga Commission probing the capture of the SAPS and its political head, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, by an underworld criminal cartel known as the ‘Big Five’.

Mogotsi is suspected to have drawn that inference from the fact that King Misuzulu was educated in the United States while Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi graduated in the United States of America with degrees that include a B-Tech degree in Policing, a National Diploma in Police Administration, an MBA and LLB degree, and is an admitted attorney.

He has risen within the SAPS ranks and held leadership positions whose professional experience includes leadership roles within the SAPS such as head of the Special Task Force, Divisional Commissioner for Human Resource Development, acting National Commissioner, and is currently Provincial Commissioner for KwaZulu-Natal. He also has specialised training in areas like counter-terrorism, crisis response and bomb disposal.

Mogotsi claims King Misuzulu’s ties to the CIA emerged from his tactics he used to unseat Prince Simakade Zulu from the throne. “I personally helped Prince Simakade to open cases against the King at the Midrand Police Station which were later moved to Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal for jurisdiction purposes.

Mogotsi also accused Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi of intimidating the Royal House members associated with Prince Simakade and that he often brags about. Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi was also accused of often bragging about the fact that he was trained in the United States.

He also accused Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi of having taken bribery money from the man he accuses of being one of the Big Five cartel bosses, ‘Cat’ Matlala, who is currently behind bars awaiting trial murder cases and attempted murder of his actress girlfriend now confined to a wheelchair.

Mogotsi also spoke of an October 12, 2018 presentation commonly referred to as ‘Boko Haram’, in which evidence was given of a Mamelodi man outside Pretoria known as ‘John Wick’ which turned out to be Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala. “That was when I first got to know this ‘John Wick’ and I was asked by handler in the SAPS to dig into this man’s cartel links,” Mogotsi said, adding that if commissioners can lay their hands on this ‘Boko Haram’ they will be able to see ‘Cat’ Matlala picture in which he is referred to as ‘John Wick’.

Mogotsi said said ‘Cat’ Matlala, who is often referred to as a tenderpreneur, was irregularly awarded an SAPS tender, inwhich he paid former Police Minister Bheki Cele R2million but Cele wanted R10 million and told ‘Cat’ Matlala that he owed him [Cele] R8million. Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola was given R5million and demanded an extra R20million.

“Matlala told me how ungrateful and greed these men [Masemola and Cele] were. ‘Cat’ Matlala told he he also gave money to Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi, without disclosing how much. I had followed him to Durban to Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi’s exclusive house without his [Matlala’s] knowledge. I boarded a plane to Durban and took an Uber and followed him to the General’s house and parked outside but it was too big leafy such that I could’nt see what was happening and returned to Gauteng,” he said.

Mogotsi also claimed that the late former Police Minister and later South African ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, just before his death, had confided in him that he had fired Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi at some point because of his suspected CIA agent links.

“In the course of my investigations into Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi’s links to CIA, I then flew to Nairobi in Kenya to meet a certain ‘George’ who was a CIA operative in most of the African countries who claimed to have expert information on CIA operatives in Africa but would not confirm whether he knew Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu in the CIA ranks of operatives.

After narrating his trip to Kenya, Commissioner Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga then wanted to know from Mogotsi whether this was not just a futile execise as he never benefited anything after spending R15 000 and Mogotsi admitted it was. Mogotsi will continue with his testimon to the Justice Madlanga Commission of Inquiry which will culminate with cross examination of the witness.