Madlanga Commission hearing record
Day 62 of the Madlanga Commission
Witness: Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya
Suspended SAPS Deputy National Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya opens a scheduled four-day appearance, facing allegations that he interfered in police work and helped weaken the Political Killings Task Team. He rejects the claims, casting the proceedings as a witch-hunt.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Day one of Sibiya's scheduled four-day testimony at the Brigette Mabandla Judicial College in Pretoria; the appearance would ultimately stretch beyond the original schedule.
- Sibiya is the suspended Deputy National Commissioner of Police for Crime Detection, one of the most senior officers implicated in the evidence heard by the commission.
- He arrives to answer a cluster of allegations: interference in police operations, alleged links to criminal networks, and his role in the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).
- Sibiya positions himself as the target of a witch-hunt and rejects the claims made against him by earlier witnesses.
- Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had named Sibiya among senior officers he alleged interfered with investigations, setting up a direct clash of accounts.
- The commission signalled that Sibiya would be tested against the documentary record and the conflicting testimony already on file, rather than his narrative alone.
- All persons named remain presumed innocent; the commission reports the record and does not pronounce guilt.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
A senior officer takes the stand
Suspended Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya began what was billed as a four-day appearance before the Madlanga Commission. Multiple earlier witnesses had implicated him in wrongdoing and in alleged collaboration with criminal cartels, making his testimony one of the most anticipated of the inquiry.
Sibiya frames the inquiry
According to reporting on his appearance, Sibiya rejected the allegations against him and characterised the proceedings as a witch-hunt. He signalled that he would defend his conduct in office and dispute the accounts given by officers who had testified before him.
Our analysis
The bottom line
Sibiya's arrival marked a pivot in the commission's arc. For weeks the inquiry had built its picture of interference and cartel infiltration largely through the testimony of officers describing the conduct of others; now one of the most senior of those named officers was in the chair to answer in his own words. The stakes were correspondingly high, because Sibiya sat close to the top of the chain of command whose integrity the commission was established to examine.
By framing the process as a witch-hunt at the outset, Sibiya set the terms of his own defence: that the case against him rested on the say-so of adversaries rather than on hard proof. That is a legitimate line for a witness who denies wrongdoing, and the presumption of innocence remains firmly with him. It also, however, raised the test he would have to meet over the coming days, because the commission had already flagged that his account would be measured against documents and against the testimony of others rather than accepted at face value.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
Follow the threads
Who Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya connects to
Serge Cabonge
On 13 October 2026 the state played roughly twenty-five minutes of a call between businessman Serge Cabonge and the complainant's father at Sibiya's bail application. On it Cabonge denies ever having collected money from Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala to pass to Sibiya, alleges that the two dealt with each other through suspended Sergeant Fannie Nkosi, and alleges that Sibiya threatened him. The commission has said it will obtain Cabonge's statement. Sibiya denies the allegations; none of it has been tested and both are presumed innocent.
View profile →The sergeant whose evidence became his charge sheetSergeant Fannie Nkosi
Suspended Sergeant Fannie Nkosi, the witness the official record for Day 78 names as Witness F, testified in March 2026 that Sibiya raised no objection to gifts from Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, including 20 live impala said to have reached his farm in March 2024, and that Sibiya pressured him to share Musa Khawula's warrant of arrest with Matlala. Sibiya denies both, and per SABC News denied instructing Witness F to share that warrant. Two of the seven counts on his SAPS disciplinary charge sheet concern Nkosi directly: sharing confidential information with him without the national commissioner's authorisation, and allegedly promising him a promotion or a placement in a narcotics project. Untested; both men are presumed innocent.
View profile →The businessman said to have protected himStuart James Scharnick
Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo told the commission in November 2025 that Scharnick acted as Sibiya's personal protector while not employed by the SAPS, and that Sibiya frequently used a vehicle Scharnick owned. Sibiya has said he did not know Scharnick had had run-ins with the law; Scharnick denies being a bodyguard and says he lent Sibiya an armoured vehicle after the police withdrew his protection. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →Subject of his allegationsLieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Mkhwanazi named Sibiya among the senior officers he alleged interfered with investigations.
View profile →Co-named over the disbandmentSenzo Mchunu
Both were named in connection with the weakening of the political killings task team.
View profile →Distinct person, same surnameLieutenant Colonel Kwazikwakhe Sibiya
Not to be confused with Lieutenant-Colonel Kwazikwakhe Sibiya, a junior officer witness in the R200m cocaine matter - a different person.
View profile →Distinct person, similar surnameMajor-General Richard Shibiri
Often confused: Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya (suspended deputy national commissioner) is not Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri (dismissed Organised Crime head) - different people, different surnames.
View profile →Alleged gifts; Matlala refused to answerVusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Sergeant Fanie Nkosi testified in March 2026 that Sibiya raised no objection to gifts from Matlala, including 20 live impala said to have been delivered to Sibiya's farm in March 2024. Asked about the recording on Day 160, Matlala said 'I do not want to incriminate myself because I know that the recordings are under investigation'. Untested; Sibiya denies wrongdoing and is presumed innocent.
View profile →Zoom out
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