Matlala Trial | Kekana’s torture claims under scrutiny

Alleged hitman, Musa Kekana, has accused police of using torture to extract information from him following his arrest, telling the Johannesburg High Court that officers allegedly suffocated him with a plastic bag until he lost consciousness and coughed up blood.

Kekana, the first accused in the attempted-murder trial involving alleged underworld figure, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, gave evidence in a trial-within-a-trial on Tuesday, which is focused on whether evidence obtained following his arrest is admissible.

His testimony has placed alleged police brutality and disputed medical evidence at the centre of the proceedings.

Kekana told the court that armed police intercepted his vehicle during his arrest in April 2024, handcuffed him and allegedly failed to explain his constitutional rights.

He said officers then took him to his home, where they allegedly conducted searches without a warrant before subjecting him to further violence.

According to Kekana, he was tied up with his own belt and an officer repeatedly placed a plastic bag over his head, suffocating him until he lost consciousness.

Kekana has maintained that the alleged assault was responsible for his physical condition after the arrest, rather than an underlying medical condition.

The State challenged this during cross-examination, questioning him about his health and treatment at Edenvale Government Hospital following his arrest.

Kekana denied telling police that he had recently been admitted to hospital.

He said he only described himself as a sickly person because he feared that police would assault him.

He also disputed evidence concerning information allegedly recorded by medical practitioners about his previous health history.

Kekana denied voluntarily providing doctors with details of a previous hospital admission and rejected suggestions that his coughing up blood and request for a nebuliser were linked to an existing respiratory condition.

He told the court that he requested the nebuliser because he had allegedly been suffocated by police.

The State has also relied on medical records contained in Exhibit N during its cross-examination of Kekana.

The records include entries relating to previous hospital admissions and a reference to possible poisoning.

But the defence objected to the State’s reliance on the entries, arguing that they cannot be used to challenge Kekana’s credibility because the medical practitioner who made the notes was not called to testify.

The defence argued that the entries therefore remain unproven hearsay and have no evidentiary weight.

The court questioned whether the fact that the full bundle had been submitted as an exhibit meant that its contents could be scrutinised during cross-examination.

The defence maintained that submitting the records did not remove the ordinary rules of evidence and that unproven statements contained in the documents could not simply be relied upon to impeach Kekana’s credibility.

The State, however, maintains that the medical entries are relevant to testing Kekana’s consistency, particularly regarding what he allegedly told medical practitioners about his health.

The dispute forms part of the broader defence attempt to show that evidence and statements obtained following Kekana’s arrest were the product of alleged assault and torture.

The court will ultimately have to determine whether the evidence obtained during and after the arrest was secured in a manner consistent with Kekana’s constitutional rights.

Kekana and Matlala, along with three other co-accused, are on trial in connection with the attempted murder of three well-known individuals.

They face 25 charges, including attempted murder, fraud and money laundering, and have pleaded not guilty.

The charges relate to alleged hit plots targeting socialite, Tebogo Thobejane, businessman Joe Sibanyoni and music producer, Seunkie “DJ Vettys” Mokubung.

The trial-within-a-trial continues on Wednesday in the Johannesburg High Court.

Written by: Lebohang Ndashe