“I feel like Joseph, whose brothers threw him in the pit,” suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya said after an extensive search and seizure at his Centurion, Johannesburg mansion.
The raid was conducted by the task force and National Intervention Unit (NIU) on Thursday.
Sibiya, who was suspended following Kwa-Zulu Natal Police Commissioner Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s press briefing where he implicated him in alleged police criminality, claimed that his colleagues, including the national commissioner, Fannie Masemola, have betrayed him.
Cops only took devices
Speaking outside his home, Sibiya said the police only wanted his devices. And he gave them a laptop and four mobile phones. He claimed that there was nothing in the laptop, saying he often used it for communication and research.
“I know they want to push me out; I will never resign. They must fire me,” said Sibiya.
He said he was not home when the raid was being conducted, but was called in.
Despite the trauma caused to his family, he said the officials were respectful. They did not tamper with the documents he will take to the Parliament Ad Hoc committee investigating the allegations made by Mkhwanazi. He will make an appearance there on Monday.
“I’m under siege; my life is in danger and that of my family,” said Sibiya.
The raids came after several news reports stated that Sibiya was facing arrest. However, before the raid, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the police were not aware of the arrest. She said there are ongoing investigations. And she mentioned the Madlanga commission and the ad hoc committee.
“As SAPS, we are not aware of any person that has been arrested thus far. And that includes Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya,” said Mathe.
Bad blood between him and Mkhwanazi
There has been bad blood between Sibiya and Mkhwanazi. In his explosive July speech, Mkhwanazi said Police Minister Senzo Mchunu tried to call a meeting between Mkhwanazi and Sibiya for them to smoke a peace pipe.
“There can never be peace between a police officer and a criminal,” said Mkhwanazi in reference to Sibiya.
Masemola had revealed before the Madlanga commission that notorious tenderpreneur and attempted murder-accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s phone had shown that Sibiya is associated with criminal cartels.
He said Sibiya’s move to issue out instructions for the immediate disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team was not based on a procedural motive. It was based on a “motive to protect cartels”.
