National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola says his deputy Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya pushed for the immediate disbandment of the political killings task team (PKTT), despite not being part of its operation.
The PKTT was established in 2018 to investigate politically motivated killings. It was disestablished in December 2024 by police minister Senzo Mchunu in a letter directed to Masemola.
Testifying before parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Masemola said on Thursday Sibiya was not part of the task team but brought the letter to his office for signature.
“I indicated to him to leave the matter, but he was of the view the disbandment should happen immediately,” Masemola said.
He said many people wanted to know about the work of the task team, but due to its sensitivity not everyone was briefed about it.
“Politicians in KZN wanted to know what was happening. We kept the work to a few people.
“Sibiya attended one briefing from the team. Other than that, he wouldn’t know much about the establishment and all that.”
Masemola said he was on leave when the letter to disband the PKTT was sent to him and could not attend to it immediately.
He said he was made aware of it by his colleagues on WhatsApp on January 2 after it was circulated on social media.
“When I read it, it was a surprise and shocking to me. It was surprising because he never mentioned anything about his unhappiness with the team or plans to disband the team. When I saw the letter, I was like, let me enjoy my leave and I would get to it afterwards.”
When he came back from leave on January 14, Masemola said, he ignored the letter and went about his work, but Sibiya brought the letter to his office.
“When I came back, Sibiya told me about the directive from Mchunu and requested my signature to implement the disbandment of PKTT. I looked at it and told him I was not in agreement with the immediate disbandment because I didn’t know what the reasons were.”
Masemola asserted he was against the disbandment of the task team because of the success the team had achieved.
“I don’t agree with the directive because I don’t know the reason behind it. It was a devastating way of doing things. If it should be done, let it be done in a proper way; hence, I proposed a wind-down approach.”
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