PRETORIA - EFF leader Julius Malema has condemned the alleged harassment of the wife and children of alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala during a police raid by the political killings task team (PKTT) in December 2024.
During his testimony before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on Thursday, Matlala said the raid was part of an investigation into the kidnapping of his ‘friend’ Jerry Boshoga. Recounting the incident to the ad hoc committee, which was sitting at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility in Pretoria, where he is a remand detainee, Matlala alleged the officers gained access to his property by breaking the main gate.
“It was around 4pm. I was in the main bedroom with my wife and we heard children screaming in the house. “I saw men wearing balaclavas and holding rifles approaching the main bedroom.”
Matlala said he, his children and his wife were told to lie down and put their hands behind their heads while rifles were pointed at them.
He said his wife told him afterwards: “This heartless act has had a profound and lasting psychological impact on our entire family.”
During his turn to question Matlala, Malema started his interrogation on an emotional note, addressing the alleged incident directly.
“I wish to send my sympathy to your wife and children because no-one, even a hardened criminal, must have police coming into their house and making their children lie on the floor,” Malema said. Arguing police should have handled the situation with far greater sensitivity, Malema said ‘no-one must ever do that to our children and wives’.
Malema suggested the correct procedure would have involved taking the children and placing them with a female police officer in one room to reassure them everything was fine while the police conducted their business.
“How do you put a child on the floor and point at them with a firearm? It is uncalled for, even if you’re looking for the most dangerous criminal. That must never be done to children.”
Julius Malema. (Pic: The Economist)