Matlala may be a central figure now, but he only came to public prominence three years ago when his name was mentioned in news reports about alleged irregularities in the tender at a state hospital, although he said he had nothing to do with the tender.

What little is known about his early life is based on what he told parliament last year.

He was born in 1976, when South Africa was still governed by a white minority government, and grew up in a township east of the capital, Pretoria.

He told lawmakers that for a time he was raised by a single mother, who, he said, then “disappeared with me.”

“I had to raise myself. I was actually a street kid,” he told lawmakers.

He was finally reunited with his mother in 2002, when she was terminally ill.

After her death, Matlala learned that she had been sexually assaulted, which he claimed was due to her albinism. Myths surrounding the condition include people believing that having sex with a woman with the condition would cure men of the disease.

After leaving school, he said he started an informal business to make ends meet, which led to several brushes with the law.

In 2001, he was convicted and served prison time for possession of stolen property.

Over the years, he would be arrested for a number of crimes, including residential burglaries, cash-in-transit theft, and assault. He denied involvement in all of them and was acquitted or the charges against him were dropped.

He told the parliamentary committee that his nickname “Cat” was not due, as some had suggested, to his “nine lives” and his ability to survive problems, but to his large family: he has nine children with his wife.

But things caught up with him in May 2025 when he was arrested and charged with attempted murder, which he denies. His wife is accused of the same crime and also denies the charge. Unlike her husband, she has been granted bail.

He was later charged with corruption over allegations related to the provision of health services to police, and pleaded guilty last month as part of a plea deal, but has since withdrawn the plea as the deal fell apart.