Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner on crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya has denied claims of involvement in the murder case of former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa.
Sibiya claimed that he was very late at the crime scene at musician Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus on the night of the incident on October 6, 2014.
He told Parliament’s Ad Hoc committee that he has been wishing to clarify the matter. Sibiya said he first received a call from the then acting Gauteng police commissioner Tebello Mosikili that the famous footie has been shot.
He was never first at murder scene
At the time of the incident, Sibiya was head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
Upon hearing the news, he said he called the Hawks team and directed them to the scene. He then rushed to the hospital.
“When I got to the hospital it was packed, even in the passage. Even in the ward where he was lying motionless, and everybody was crying there.
“Even myself, I could not go into the ward. I saw him lying inside from the outside [of] the ward and I realised it won’t work. I then said to General Mosikili, ‘I will go to the house where the investigations must now start’,” said Sibiya.
He said the house was packed inside and out. Several generals and then Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Sizakekele Nkosi-Malubane were there when he arrived. He instructed his team to move the people out so they could properly start the investigation.
By this time, he said, the place was already cleared of blood. And the said bucket hat that was allegedly found at the scene. He emphasised that the scene was already processed, and experts had done their job.
Case given to other investigators
While wondering if he or Mosikili will take over the case, the then National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega suggested that the case should be taken by experienced investigators.
“That is why, even today, when this matter is being testified, I haven’t submitted a statement. I have never been called as a witness, only towards the end because I was not involved. I have seen messages that I took a million, and I did this, I shifted a firearm. No, at what point would I have done that?
“I just wanted to say to South Africans, I am not involved in the Senzo Meyiwa case. I have never done anything wrong. And there have been many teams, more than 10 different teams that were set to investigate this thing.
“I have done noting that can actually cause the matter not to be successful,” said Sibiya.
Defence lawyer implicates Sibiya
Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, the lawyer of accused number one Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya in the Senzo Meyiwa case, claimed that Sibiya was one of the first people to arrive at the scene and called Warrant Officer Meshack Makhubo from the scene.
“He called him to assist with the reconstruction of the crime scene. Makhubo will testify that upon his arrival at the crime scene just before midnight, Sibiya called him aside. He asked him to observe what happened here [at the scene] and what could be his opinion.
“After he made his assessment, Makhubo told Sibiya that there were no intruders who entered the house. He told Sibiya that the people who were in the house when Meyiwa was killed know what happened,” said Mngomezulu.
