Claws come out for Hawks head honcho Sibiya

26 July 2015 - 02:00 By MZILIKAZI wa AFRIKA and STEPHAN HOFSTATTER

Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Shadrack Sibiya was on Friday found guilty in his disciplinary inquiry, following a Sunday Times exposé, of involvement in the illegal rendition of five Zimbabweans. Sibiya's team arrested the Zimbabweans under the pretext that they were illegal immigrants implicated in the murder of a senior police officer in their home country.They were handed over to Zimbabwean police at the Beit Bridge border crossing without proper deportation papers.In Zimbabwe, they were tortured - two were killed and a third disappeared.Inquiry chairman Mxolisi Zondo found Sibiya guilty of:Holding a clandestine meeting in Harare, with former Hawks head Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat, to discuss illegally rendering Zimbabweans in South Africa;Sanctioning the illegal rendition by directing members of his team, through SMSes, to carry out the operation and sent 30 text messages to Dramat to keep him abreast of events.Zondo said: "The raid, arrest, detention and deportation were unlawful ... thus rendering Sibiya guilty of misconduct."But Zondo found that Sibiya was not guilty of defeating the ends of justice and said there was not enough evidence to place Sibiya "on the scene of operations or that he had any active role in both operations".Sibiya's "desperate attempt", however, to show he was not in charge of the operation did not detract from "his knowledge and sanctioning of the illegal rendition", said Zondo.mini_story_image_hright1The Sunday Times exposed the rendition scandal in October 2011, revealing that five men were arrested in Johannesburg between November 2010 and January 2011 and handed over to Zimbabwean police without proper deportation documents.Two of them, Witness Ndeya and Johnson Nyoni, were tortured and killed, and a third, Prichard Tshuma, disappeared.The inquiry suggested that another Zimbabwean, Gordon Dube, may also have been killed.Sunday Times reporters interviewed two survivors of the illegal renditions and relatives who witnessed the arrests.After the story was published, it was dismissed as false and police accused Sunday Times journalists of being paid by crime intelligence officials to smear Dramat, who took an early exit package as Hawks boss, and Sibiya, who is on suspension.After the newspaper filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act application demanding evidence of the payments, it was told that none existed.A signed affidavit by Brigadier Monk Sarah Mabena, acting head of support services at crime intelligence's head office, stated: "I have personally checked all the relevant registers and files where such records would be kept, should it exist, and there are no records or proof of any records."Read the Full Disciplinary Hearing Document Here (PDF)investigations@sundaytimes.co.za..

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