Suspended national police deputy commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya has accused uMkhonto weSizwe (MKP) MP David Skosana of colluding with KZN police commissioner, Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, to land him in jail.
Sibiya is appearing before the Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating corruption within state security structures for the second day, facing questions from the MPs.
He resisted responding to questions from Skosana because the latter is a complainant in a case against him following the July 6 statement by Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi.
“This is the person I am going to sit with, at some point, and stand against in court because he is a complainant, and him using this platform now to solicit answers from me that I am going to defend before court, to me, is a very serious concern.
“This is the member that I feel is working with General Mkhwanazi because the statement that was used by Mkhwanazi’s team to go and open a case has his name there. Now, I must sit across from the same man to cross-examine or to ask me questions? I am asking … if I may … [to] be protected chair,” said Sibiya.
Standing his ground
Asked if he stands by the statement that Skosana is communicating with Mkhwanazi or he’d would like to withdraw, Sibiya said: “I stand by that statement for [these] simple reasons: the fact that the honourable [member] went and opened a case, and then the next thing, the details of the case, the statement, and everything is what the investigating officer of the case is using in applying for a search warrant — as far as I’m concerned, there has been communication.”
He told the committee that the MK Party has hosted marches against him, opened a case against him, and is in support of Mkhwanazi.
Chairperson, Soviet Lekganyane, said he could not prescribe how questions should be answered and cannot force Sibiya to respond to questions in a certain way.
He said Skosana may ask any question but should accept “no comment” as a response in the practice of fairness to both the MP and Sibiya, as a witness.
Skosana said the nation should not be misled that he is speaking [privately] to Mkhwanazi. The fact that he sits on the Parliamentary police committee, means he engages with all involved in the police structure, he said.
“I just want to say this is not personal. I haven’t instructed anyone to go and confiscate the gadgets of General Sibiya. Once you open a case, it ends there. I don’t know, I am not an investigator, and I am not a policeman. Whatever was happening, I am sure they were doing their job like us here,” said Skosana, quoted word-for-word.
