Deputy commissioner for crime detection Shadrack Sibiya. (X)
Suspended deputy national commissioner for crime Shadrack Sibiya moved 121 case dockets from the KwaZulu-Natal-based political killings task team without a proper explanation, a witness told the Madlanga Commission on Monday.
Mary Motsepe, the head of serious and violent crimes, told the commission, chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, that she was instructed to collect the dockets from the office of the crime intelligence boss, Dumisani Khumalo, for an audit that could have been conducted in KwaZulu-Natal.
“When I was told my team would be conducting the investigation I asked General Sibiya for the real reasons for the disbandment of the [task team], he told me that according to the approved organisational structure the [task team] must cease to operate and fall under murder and robbery which is a section under the serious and violent crimes investigation of which I am the component head,” she said.
Sibiya signed off on the dockets’ removal — allegedly without the approval of national police commissioner Fannie Masemola — after suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s December 2024 directive to disband the task team.
Sibiya has told the ad hoc committee in parliament, which is conducting its own inquiry into police corruption, that the dockets had been gathering dust since the task team’s launch in 2018 and that he had plans to enhance the South African Police Service (SAPS) murder and robbery unit to perform the same task.
Motsepe told the commission that the 121 dockets initially originated from her office; they were then taken over by the KwaZulu-Natal task team in 2018, returned to her office this May, and subsequently sent back to the province in August by acting police minister Firoz Cachalia.
“We don’t just take dockets from the provinces; we engage them, as most of the dockets come as complaints at our office. So I don’t see any problem if these dockets were taken to murder and robbery in KZN,” she said.
She said the dockets were to be audited at the SAPS head office, which entailed comparing details with the police system, but said this could have been done in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mchunu sent the letter via WhatsApp to disband the task team. Masemola has told the commission that the letter was sent to him while he was on leave, without consultation. He also said Sibiya signed off on the removal of the dockets without his approval.
Co-deputy police ministers Cassel Mathale and Shela Boshielo have told the ad hoc committee that they found out about the disbandment letter on social media and had noted disagreements between Mchunu and Masemola.
Mchunu has testified to the committee that his letter did not address how the dockets should be handled, and that he was simply implementing a police research study that recommended disbanding them to strengthen internal police capacity.
Motsepe said Sibiya argued there should be “a fair representation of the murder and robbery sections within the nine provinces, not just in KZN” and that “the budget allocation for the [KwaZulu-Natal team] was a problem as it was disproportionately higher … than any other unit dealing with the same types of crimes”.
Motsepe said she didn’t know what the suspended minister was thinking when he said the task team was no longer adding value to policing, adding: “even though they were disbanded, they are police officers serving a purpose”.
She said Sibiya’s order to remove the 121 dockets seemed to be “expanding” on Mchunu’s directive.
“Although I was not involved in the disbandment process, I agree with the view that the [task team] should not have been disbanded without proper consultation,” she said.
“I do not know if the minister had the authority to disband the [task team], however, even if the minister had the authority to disband the [task team], he had to first consult with all the relevant stakeholders, which would have included me as the component head responsible for Serious and Violent crimes.”
She said the task team should not have been disbanded before the upcoming local government elections, adding: “It is a well-known fact that KZN has the highest incidents of political killings and there’s usually a spike in politically motivated killings before elections.”
“It does not make sense to disband the [task team] immediately unless the stakeholders had advised the minister that immediate disbandment would have been appropriate,” Motsepe said.
When requested to collect the dockets from head office, the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, complained that he “had nothing to do with those dockets,” she said.
Masemola also told her the dockets were now Sibiya’s responsibility and “he should use his discretion”.
Motsepe told the commission that Sibiya assigned her to handle the dockets transfer and audit in May, arguing that the new SAPS structure required the dockets to be placed under the murder and robbery unit, as per a police research study.
“I instructed my team to conduct an analysis of the dockets and prepare a report on their findings,” said Motsepe, adding that this commenced from 19 to 30 May.
She said the dockets had been audited, and she subsequently wrote a report to Sibiya that included missing witness statements on some of the dockets.