By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Police Services (SAPS) confirmed that the deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has resigned from the service with immediate effect.
Sibiya’s disciplinary hearing had been scheduled to commence on Monday, 12 October 2026.
However, instead of the inquiry going ahead, Sibiya’s lawyers submitted his resignation letter at the onset of the hearing.
“The disciplinary hearing against Lieutenant-General Sibiya sat this morning, during which his legal representative tendered his resignation immediately after the disciplinary proceedings had commenced,” the SAPS national spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
Mathe said his departure would be regarded as a dishonourable discharge because disciplinary proceedings were pending when he resigned.
“As former senior officer had an ongoing disciplinary case against him at the time of his resignation, his departure from the Service is therefore regarded as a dishonourable discharge,” Mathe added.
Sibiya was arrested on 21 September and faces five criminal charges in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, including rape, human trafficking and the sexual grooming of a child.
Separately, Sibiya has been implicated in allegations of corruption and interference in police operations before the Madlanga commission of Inquiry.
Sibiya’s departure follows a turbulent career in the police service. He was dismissed in 2015 over his role in the illegal rendition of Zimbabwean nationals. He challenged the dismissal. The Labour Court subsequently ordered his reinstatement after finding that the dismissal had been procedurally unfair.
After leaving national policing, Sibiya was appointed by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba in 2016 to lead the city’s Group Forensic and Investigation Services, which investigates corruption and misconduct in the municipality.