Security company owner; named in evidence alongside the late Jotham Msibi · Gauteng
Named in evidence
A private security businessman who has surfaced repeatedly in this commission's documentary evidence without ever having been a witness before it. He appears on three separate strands of the record. First, on the WhatsApp material extracted from the late taxi boss Jotham 'King Mswazi' Msibi's phone and led by chief evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC on 18 August 2026 (Day 161), where Motsumi is alleged to have been party with Msibi, suspended SAPS sergeant Fannie Nkosi and murder-accused businessman Katiso 'KT' Molefe to a plan to buy an IMSI catcher - a 'grabber' cellphone interception device - from a Czech supplier on the representation that the purchaser was the South African Police Service, and then resell it in eSwatini; the same evidence showed him sending Msibi the contact details of then Ekurhuleni city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi on 23 September 2023, two days before Msibi called her. Second, in evidence from a protected witness recorded here as Witness F, where police dockets and confidential intelligence were said to have been shared with Motsumi, including material on a cash-in-transit investigation. Third, as a lender to Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala: on 25 August 2026 (Day 166) Matlala confirmed a R5 million loan from Motsumi in 2024, formalised in an acknowledgement of debt, applied to renovations tied to a lease at the SAPS Pretoria West College and repaid in 2025, and an unsuccessful approach for a further R20 million in 2025 to keep the R360 million Medicare24 police contract alive after the SAPS threatened cancellation over non-performance. Every allegation on this page is untested. Motsumi has not given evidence to the Madlanga Commission and has not answered any of it before it. He is presumed innocent, and this page records what has been said about him rather than any finding.
Steve MotsumiSteven MotsumigrabberIMSI catcherBig Five cartelMedicare24 tenderMadlanga Commission
This profile summarises testimony and evidence given on the public record before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. It restates allegations as presented at the hearings and is not a finding of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing by any person.
Awaiting appearanceNo portrait on the public record yet
Their role
What the record says
Alleged party to the plan to buy a police-badged 'grabber' and resell it in eSwatini (Day 161, 18 August 2026)
On WhatsApp messages dating from January 2023 and led by Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC, Motsumi is alleged to have joined Msibi, suspended SAPS sergeant Fannie Nkosi and Katiso 'KT' Molefe in seeking to acquire an IMSI catcher from a supplier in the Czech Republic on the representation that the buyer was the South African Police Service, and then to resell the technology in eSwatini. Nkosi is alleged to have applied SAPS stamps to the paperwork that made the representation work. None of this has been tested; the living people named are presumed innocent.
Sent Msibi the contact details of Ekurhuleni's city manager (Day 161, 18 August 2026)
On 23 September 2023 Motsumi sent Msibi the contact details of Dr Imogen Mashazi, then Ekurhuleni's city manager; Msibi called her two days later. The commissioners stated expressly that they do not know what was said on that call and cautioned against drawing any inference from the fact of it. Mashazi faces separate, untested criminal charges in the Ekurhuleni matter and is presumed innocent, as is Motsumi.
Named as a recipient of police dockets in Witness F's evidence
Cross-examination of a protected witness recorded here as Witness F placed on the record that the witness had shared dockets and confidential police intelligence with Matlala and with Motsumi, the material passed to Motsumi concerning a cash-in-transit investigation the witness said he had worked on for more than three years. Commissioner Sesi Baloyi remarked that many South Africans would not sleep easily knowing officers shared such material with outsiders. Untested; Motsumi has not answered it.
The R5 million loan to Matlala, and the R20 million that never came (Day 166, 25 August 2026)
Per SABC News, Matlala confirmed from the witness box that Motsumi lent him R5 million in 2024 under an acknowledgement of debt, applied to renovations connected to a lease at the SAPS Pretoria West College, and that it was repaid in 2025 and was not interest-free. Per Business Day, Matlala also approached Motsumi for a further R20 million after the SAPS threatened in February 2025 to cancel the Medicare24 contract over non-performance: 'I needed more money to fund the contract.' That R20 million did not materialise. Lending money is not unlawful; this is recorded because the commission is tracing who financed the contract. Untested.
Described as someone a Hawks general feared
Per Business Day, Motsumi was described in evidence as a man that the then head of the KwaZulu-Natal Hawks, Major General Lesetja Senona, said he feared. That is an account of what one person said about another, has not been tested, and is not a finding against anyone.