Inside SA's crime matrix: a cartel,

Calvin Rafadi says he helps the police. Meanwhile, his name keeps coming up at the Madlanga Commission -

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Calvin Rafadi

(Photo: calvinrafadi.co.za)

Calvin Rafadi recalls the last time he saw Tshwane entrepreneur Jerry Boshoga - it was several weeks, possibly months, before Boshoga was reported as having been kidnapped in Centurion.

When Rafadi saw him, Boshoga was with Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, who is now accused of attempted murder and is alleged in testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry to be a key figure in a drug cartel known as the Big Five. Top police officers testified that the cartel has infiltrated South Africa's politics and law enforcement.

"The last time I saw Jerry, I saw him with Vusi going to do their nails at a salon [in Menlyn]," Rafadi recalled to Daily Maverick this week. "I still joked ... they mustn't paint their nails black."

Boshoga was kidnapped on 18 November last year after attending a business meeting. He is still missing.

Apart from apparently knowing each other, Rafadi, Boshoga and Matlala all have something else in common - they have been mentioned at the Madlanga Commission.

What has emerged about Rafadi, though yet to be fully tested, brings his words and intentions into question.

Daily Maverick contacted Rafadi earlier this week while looking into Boshoga's kidnapping. By the time this journalist managed to speak to him, his name had surfaced again at the Madlanga Commission, so the interview evolved into a broader look at him.

This is not to endorse Rafadi or portray him negatively, but rather to emphasise the smoke-and-mirrors nature of organised crime, which makes it difficult to pinpoint the truth.

The commission started about three weeks ago to investigate explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.