Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya has vehemently denied being a close friend of alleged cartel member Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.
Sibiya, the police deputy commissioner who is on suspension, told the commission that he only met Matlala in January 2024 when he had come to meet national commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola in relation to a South African Police Service building in Pretoria.
“I vehemently deny that I am, or have ever been, a close friend of Matlala,” he said. “Any assertion to that effect is false, and no credible evidence has been produced to establish that I am friends with Matlala. In actual fact, I was introduced to Matlala as a service provider of the SAPS.”
Matlala had signed a lease agreement with the public works department in December 2023 to use a police building in Pretoria West, and in June 2024 he was awarded a tender worth R350m for his company Medicare24 Tshwane.
While Sibiya told the commission that he had never been close to Matlala, evidence in the form of WhatsApp chats and previous testimony at the commission painted a different picture.
Responding to the chat messages, Sibiya said: “It is entirely unclear how these messages were obtained, what methodology was employed in their extraction and whether their integrity and authenticity have been preserved.
“Accordingly, I am unable to confirm the authenticity, accuracy or context of these purported WhatsApp communications and cannot speak to their legitimacy, completeness or reliability,” he said.
Earlier this month, Witness F told the commission that Matlala and Sibiya met in December 2023. However, he later told the commission that he was not sure, but it was around that time.
He then told the commission that in March 2024, he facilitated the transfer of 20 impalas from Matlala to Sibiya.
I vehemently deny that I am, or have ever been, a close friend of Matlala.
— Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya
Witness F also told the commission that in September 2024, Matlala attended a “thanksgiving” event at Sibiya’s home, and among the attendees was the Gauteng head of police crime intelligence, Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri.
Another anonymous witness, Witness C, told the commission that Matlala had revealed that he helped Sibiya buy a R2m plot in Centurion and also gave him a R500,000 gift at Sibiya’s son’s wedding.
Sibiya testified that he was being attacked in a manner similar to the way he had been in 2015, which was aimed at discrediting him and removing him from the police service.
He presented the allegations that he faced in a 2015 rendition case and then detailed the February 2016 fraud case when he was accused of fraudulent travel and fuel claims but later acquitted.
Later that year, in December, he was accused of treason and espionage.
“In total, more than 20 criminal cases were opened against me by a task team established by [former Hawks boss] General [Berning] Ntlemeza and crime intelligence, forming part of a sustained and focused campaign to have me arrested, remove me from office and publicly discredit me,” Sibiya said.
“The pattern that characterised those events continues to manifest itself, with similar unfounded attacks again being directed at me.”
Sibiya revealed that he faces five charges of misconduct relating to the disbandment of the political killings task team (PKTT).
He said the charges allege his action to order the PKTT to hand him their dockets in December 2025 was improper.
“I allegedly committed serious misconduct on or about February 17 2025. I conducted myself in an improper, disgraceful and unacceptable manner,” he said when he read the charges against him.
Allegations levelled against him include that the dockets were gathering dust in his office, as no investigation entries were made on them.
Previous witnesses at the commission alleged Sibiya and suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu were working with criminal cartels.
Sibiya was suspended in September 2025 but approached the Pretoria high court to declare his suspension unlawful. However, in a scathing judgment, the court dismissed his bid to interdict a disciplinary hearing.
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