The South African Police Service (SAPS) has confirmed a police clearance certificate (PCC) belonging to alleged underworld figure Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala is fraudulent. The document had previously been sent to suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi to confirm Matlala had “no criminal convictions”.This revelation emerged during Mkhwanazi’s testimony before the Madlanga commission of inquiry on Wednesday.Evidence previously presented to the inquiry highlighted 2021 WhatsApp chats in which Medicare24 CEO Mike van Wyk sent Matlala’s PCC to Mkhwanazi to be registered as EMPD “peace officers”.A valid PCC was a mandatory requirement for all members seeking appointment cards to register as EMPD “peace officers”. Obtaining the credentials would have granted Matlala and Van Wyk’s security entities “blue light” access and other EMPD-aligned law enforcement powers.According to a statement from a SAPS forensic specialist, investigators flagged the document as fraudulent due to critical discrepancies between its unique transaction and inquiry numbers.The SAPS specialist explained the official process. On registration, a PCC is assigned a unique inquiry number and a unique transaction number. These two numbers must link to one specific certificate at all times.“The police clearance certificate purportedly issued to Matlala has a discrepancy with regards to the unique transaction number and inquiry number, which do not reconcile to the specific police clearance certificate in question,” the statement read.The specialist’s report further detailed the transaction number on Matlala’s document belonged to a legitimate PCC issued to someone else on August 19 2021, and the inquiry number listed on the fraudulent document does not exist in the SAPS system.“This implies the SAPS did not receive a specific request to issue a PCC for Matlala,” the statement concluded. “Therefore, the PCC with that inquiry and transaction number was not issued by SAPS.”In addition to the systemic inconsistencies, police found the signature on the fraudulent PCC had been forged, though it contained features that closely mimicked those of the authorised signatory.Defending his actions, Mkhwanazi testified he could not identify the document as a fake when he received it, claiming he had “never seen a clearance certificate”.Mkhwanazi said the intended peace officers were meant to assist the EMPD with peak-hour traffic management and scholar patrols. He said the strategy was to source the peace officers from well-established security companies to serve as unpaid volunteers.“Unlike having [regular] officers where we’d have to pay them for overtime, it was a strategy of making sure we have those people assisting,” Mkhwanazi said.He said Van Wyk asked for appointment cards with the EMPD logo and his security company logo, but Mkhwanazi said the cards were never processed.“We don’t do such cards,” Mkhwanazi said.TimesLIVE