Deputy national police commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya has dismissed allegations that he interfered in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case when he was Hawks boss in Gauteng.
Sibiya was the head of the Hawks in Gauteng when Meyiwa was killed in October 2014 at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus.
The trial has been on for more than a decade, and the case remains unresolved. At the time, Sibiya was accused of being part of a “cover-up” and of having stalled progress in the police investigations into the matter.
Testifying before a parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, Sibiya addressed the matter.
“I want to say to South Africans that I am not involved in the Meyiwa case, and I’ve never done anything wrong,” he said.
“I’ve done nothing to cause the matter to be unsuccessful.”
Sibiya said he was at home when he heard about the shooting and immediately went to the hospital before going to the crime scene.
“As head of the Hawks, I called the team to meet there. We got there and I ran straight to the hospital because Meyiwa was a national asset. It was packed in the hospital where he was lying motionless; I saw him lying there from outside the ward.
“When we got to the house where it happened, it was packed. There was movement in the house. I gave the instruction to secure the scene. The team had to make sure to get people outside the house.”
He said he arrived at the house hours after the shooting and there was no trace of blood or evidence at the scene, emphasising that the crime scene was not contaminated by him.
“It was very late when I arrived, after 12pm, and the incident happened at 7:30.
“It was clean; there was no blood. Then we asked what happened, and they explained.”
He said he was not part of the investigation as former police commissioner Riah Phiyega had suggested the matter be taken up by a team of experienced investigators.
“That already took us out of the way. We were no longer involved in the case. That’s why I haven’t submitted any statements, because I wasn’t involved,” said Sibiya.
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