MBABANE – Suspended Home Affairs officer Nonhlanhla Malambe has been arrested in connection with the unlawful issuance of an Eswatini ID to South African alleged crime boss Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.
Assistant Regional Civil Registrar Nonhlanhla Malambe, who is based in the Ministry of Home Affairs registry, was taken to custody by police officers under Tingculungculu yesterday around 2pm.
Her charges include allegedly assisting Matlala to unlawfully obtain an Eswatini identification (ID) card.
She stands accused of contravening the laws that govern the issuance of government documents and fraud.
Malambe is currently on a three-month suspension that was imposed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) pending investigations into the same Matlala ID matter.
Her arrest coincided with Matlala’s appearance before a South African parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee probing alleged corruption and criminality within the South African Police Service (SAPS), where his name remains central.
In July 2025, this publication exposed that Matlala, a controversial South African businessman who also owns a security company, holds a national Eswatini ID under the alias ‘Vusimuzi Dlamini’. He is registered as a resident of Motshane, outside the capital, Mbabane.
The Home Affairs civil registry showed ‘Dlamini’ as the second-born child of a woman named Christinah Thembi Shongwe, a Motshane housewife; yet local resident records and interviews revealed that Shongwe’s actual second-born child is a girl – not Matlala. The documents also omitted the name of the father. Shongwe also denied that Matlala is her son.
Following the exposé, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) launched an official probe.
National Commissioner of Police Vusi Manoma Masango assembled a team to investigate how the ID was issued, stating that the matter touches on the sovereignty of Eswatini.
By late August, the probe widened: An official at the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) was suspended after investigators uncovered alleged manipulation of the Home Affairs database.
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