By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Parliament ad hoc committee investigating police corruption concluded its public hearings this week, with hearings focused exclusively on Shadrack Sibiya and his former role in the City of Johannesburg.
Sibiya was suspended in 2015 by then acting Hawks head Major General Mthandazo Ntlemeza for his alleged involvement in the 2010 “illegal Zimbabwe rendition case”, a move that was later overruled by the court.
He was then appointed as the new head of the anti-corruption unit in the City of Johannesburg.
Mesuli Mlandu, the former executive director in the Johannesburg city manager’s office made the final public submission, where he labelled Sibiya a “serial law breaker” and accused him of lying under oath.
Mlandu testified that Sibiya’s 2016 appointment as the head of Group Forensic and Investigations Services (GFIS) in the metro was irregular.
He told the committee that Sibiya had also misled the committee during his testimony about an appointment that Mlandu approved.
He described the recruitment process as fundamentally broken. Sibiya applied for a unit head position in 2016. He was interviewed on November 7 and appointed the next day.
“By January 2017, Sibiya was masquerading as a head of department (HOD),” Mlandu alleged.
“He was signing reports as an HOD despite being appointed as a unit head and was eventually moved into the group head role without any formal recruitment process.”
When asked who authorised this, Mlandu claimed Sibiya was appointed via a report signed by then mayor Herman Mashaba, despite executive mayors lacking the statutory power to make such appointments.
The whistle-blower claims gained momentum in 2022 when a legal firm’s preliminary review found prima facie evidence of fraudulent employment. The firm recommended Sibiya be suspended and his contract rescinded.
He criticised national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and former police minister Bheki Cele for failing to conduct proper vetting before Sibiya returned to the SA Police Service in 2023.
Sibiya left the CoJ in 2022 and returned to the police service in 2023, where he was promoted to lieutenant-general and deputy national commissioner for crime detection. He is on suspension pending the parliamentary inquiry into allegations of interfering in police cases.
Earlier the committee heard that Generals Fannie Masemola and Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi allegedly received Louis Vuitton bags containing R100 000 each.
Witness Tiyani Hlungwani refused to disclose his sources, citing fear of victimisation, while MPs criticised his evidence as hearsay and lacking proof.
Former IPID head Robert McBride last week told the committee that Masemola and Mkhwanazi received Louis Vuitton bags from a police supplier who was allegedly irregularly awarded a contract for bulletproof vests.
Hlungwani also told the committee that part of the R45 million earmarked for a grabber machine for Crime Intelligence was allegedly diverted to fund a faction of the ANC during the party’s 2017 elective national conference.
Responding to questions during his testimony, Hlungwani told the committee that he was removed from his position while he was busy reviewing monies in the “Slush Fund”.
Hlungwani said the information about money stolen from the Secret Services Account was within the Crime Intelligence Services.
“I could not have the time to have the proof. When I was busy conducting a review of those monies, I was removed,” he said.
Hlungwani said he had been working fine at the Crime Intelligence Services before the ANC 2017 national elective conference, but he became a target when he refused to authorise the transaction for a grabber machine.