Dimpane Told Parliament Everything. That’s the Problem.
Public Interest South Africa has lodged a criminal complaint with the Hawks against Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane, built on her own sworn testimony to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations made by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. The complaint centres on the Medicare24 contract, the same tender at the heart of the Cat Matlala corruption case, and the roughly R48 million paid out before it was cancelled in May 2025. 16 people are currently on trial over that contract. Dimpane is not one of them.
Puleng Dimpane appeared before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Allegations Made by Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi on 25 November 2025. Under oath, she gave a detailed account of how the Medicare24 contract was handled internally once irregularities were flagged. She likely intended it as an explanation of process. Read against a newly released media briefing statement from Public Interest South Africa, it now forms the basis of a criminal complaint against her.
Medicare24 was budgeted at R360 million when the tender went out. Public Interest South Africa uses that figure in its statement. But it is not what the contract was actually awarded for. Court records show Visimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s bid came in at R228 million, the value SAPS actually awarded the contract at. It is the same tender at the centre of the Matlala corruption case, currently before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Public Interest South Africa’s statement puts the payout figure at R48 million before the contract was cancelled in May 2025. Most reporting on the court case rounds that to R50 million, the same figure rounded differently depending on the source.
16 people are currently on trial over the Medicare24 contract, including 12 senior SAPS officers and suspended National Commissioner Fannie Masemola. Dimpane, who sat as SAPS Chief Financial Officer while the payments moved, is not among them. She is now the Acting National Police Commissioner.
According to her own testimony, Dimpane returned from leave in January 2025 and was briefed by internal auditors on a contract that had already been flagged. A preliminary report in the first week of March indicated the contract was possibly irregular. She and the National Commissioner appointed an investigating officer with a 30-day deadline to confirm it. That determination only came back in May, at which point the contract was confirmed irregular and the remaining outstanding invoices were stopped.
Public Interest South Africa says this timeline raises questions under sections 38, 44, 45, 81 and 86 of the Public Finance Management Act, covering financial management duties, delegated authority, internal controls and criminal liability for financial misconduct by an accounting officer.
The complaint lands alongside a broader pattern of scrutiny across SAPS leadership. Masemola is on trial. Matlala’s plea deal has already collapsed once. Mkhwanazi has spent a year raising concerns about SAPS leadership. Major General Feroz Khan was shot roughly 48 hours before he was due to testify at the Madlanga Commission. Now the Acting Commissioner herself is the subject of a criminal complaint tied to the same contract that put her predecessor in the dock and Matlala in a courtroom.
Public Interest South Africa’s statement does not explain why the complaint was lodged with the DPCI specifically, rather than the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, which is already running the Medicare24 matter involving the 16 accused.
The full media briefing statement is available at https://www.publicinterest.org.za/post/media-briefing-statement
