Deputy national police commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya has revealed details of how he met North West businessman Brown Mogotsi and attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Testifying before parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, Sibiya said Mogotsi first contacted him to make him aware of tender-related corruption in North West and the intelligence people who were working on him.
“At that time, I had not even met him once. The records can show that,” Sibiya said.
“He’d call and tell me that ’chief this and that is happening’, and mine is to see how I deal with the information.
Listen to Sibiya:
“I didn’t know the guy; I had never contacted him before. At this level, you get calls from citizens from this number, and I’ve been given your number by so-and-so. Even ministers get calls from people they least expect.”
Sibiya said it wasn’t unusual to get a call from an ordinary citizen because “it happens all the time”.
Sibiya said he only met Mogotsi once or twice, and the first time they met was on January 8 during operational matters in Cape Town.
“He called and said, ‘Will you be in Cape Town?’ and I said, ‘I’ll come greet you.’ He came to the hotel I was in at the time.
“When he left, he forgot to pay and he asked me to pay for him, but I didn’t pay.”
Sibiya added he didn’t have any reason to deny meeting him, as they had been communicating over the phone.
“I didn’t see anything wrong. Some people you want to avoid, but other people you can’t avoid because if someone gives you something you may need, you listen to him. I deliberately didn’t want to block him because you might need someone for certain information.”
However, he clarified that his relationship with Mogotsi was strictly a working relationship.
“It’s not like we are friends. We are not close to each other. I have his number in my phone, but he’s the one who usually calls.”
Sibiya is accused of allegedly interfering in a tender scandal involving Mogotsi and Matlala. He is alleged to have communicated with Mogotsi to suppress investigations against Matlala.
With regards to Matlala, he said he knew him as a service provider for the SAPS.
“He’s well known in SAPS because, at the time, he was running a hospital at a SAPS college. As far as I know, he was awarded a healthcare contract at the police.”
He said Matlala came to his office in February 2024 when he was acting national police commissioner to complain about not being allowed to use the facility for the tender he had been awarded.
“My responsibility was to give Matlala feedback on what had transpired when I informed the national commissioner, which I did. I didn’t know Matlala before the meeting.
“We were not friends, but at the same time, I was getting to know him. He’s not someone I was close to. It was the beginning of getting to know each other more.”
TimesLIVE
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