“Was Mkhwanazi telling the truth during the press briefing or misleading the nation when he said dockets of the political killings task team (PKTT) have been called by Sibiya, that they are sitting in his office, gathering dust, making the country angry with lies?”
This is what suspended deputy national police commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya told the parliament ad hoc committee investigating corruption in the criminal justice system about allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during a July 6 media briefing.
Sibiya is implicated in the disbandment of the PKTT and the transferal 121 dockets from KwaZulu-Natal to the SA Police Service head office without the knowledge of his boss, national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola. He is alleged to have played a role in the disbandment of the task team and allegedly removed 121 investigation dockets and left them to lie idle in his office for months to obstruct the task team’s progress and shield criminal figures.
Testifying before the committee on Monday, Sibiya said he never kept the dockets in his office.
“The dockets were never gathering dust in my office for three months,” Sibiya said.
“[Crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani] Khumalo brought the dockets to [Lt-Gen Khosi] Senthumule. They sat with a team to do the handover on March 28. I was not there. They were brought to Senthumule and then distributed to serious and violent crime. It was at a time they were supposed to be taken to Mkhwanazi, who said, ‘I don’t want the dockets in my province. Take them to Sibiya’s office’.
“I never kept dockets in my office or safe. I don’t have a safe in my office or archives. He was simply misleading the nation.”
He said the dockets had been gathering dust for years.
“They were not being attended to. They were dead and there was no urgency. Some dockets were last looked at five years ago.”
On December 31 last year, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu sent Masemola a directive letter to disband the PKTT.
In his testimony, Masemola said he was on leave when the letter was sent to his office. When he returned from leave, he claimed Sibiya pushed for the immediate disbandment of the task team, despite expressing his disapproval.
“I agree the national commissioner didn’t agree with the immediate disbandment,” Sibiya said.
“He produced a plan that speaks to a phasing out approach and that is exactly what happened.”
However, he said Masemola never made it clear he did not agree with the minister’s directive.
“He never said ‘I don’t agree’. He never indicated he was not in agreement and that’s why he could come up with an action plan.
“Whatever happened, happened on the instruction of the national commissioner.”
He said Masemola should have immediately acted on the PKTT disbandment letter instead of waiting to return from leave.
Sibiya denied being behind the PKTT disbandment, saying he received the directive from Brig GH Lethoko, who is from Masemola’s office, to disband the PKTT on January 3.
“On January 3 an email was addressed to my office by Brig Lethoko from the office of the national commissioner which directed me to communicate the deactivation of the PKTT to the relevant team. My office was further requested to submit a report on January 14 for the national commissioner’s consideration and sign off to the minister. I’m sure the national commissioner did give such an instruction.”
Sibiya will continue his testimony in parliament on Tuesday where MPs will be given an opportunity to question him.
TimesLIVE
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