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Hearing record

Day 77

Witness: Major-General Richard Shibiri

Evidence led by Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC (chief evidence leader)

The commission continued hearing Major-General Richard Shibiri, then turned to an application from a protected witness known as Witness G, said to work with police informers and believed to have handled Brown Mogotsi. Through attorney Tshepo Matlala, Witness G asked to testify in camera and with his voice distorted, citing danger to himself and to people around him; chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson accepted that he should not be visually identified but noted the commission had no voice-altering software. Justice Madlanga reserved his order. Nothing here is a finding and all persons named are presumed innocent.

Official transcript (PDF) ↗All hearing days
Awaiting portrait

The day in brief

What you need to know

  • Friday's sitting continued the testimony of Major-General Richard Shibiri before moving to a procedural application from a protected witness.
  • SABC News and EWN reported that Witness G, said to work with police informers and believed to have been Brown Mogotsi's handler, applied to give evidence in camera.
  • Through his attorney, Tshepo Matlala, Witness G asked that his testimony be heard behind closed doors via an intermediary and that his voice be distorted, citing safety concerns.
  • His lawyer argued that publishing his identity would also endanger people around him who are not agents or informants, EWN reported.
  • Chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson agreed that Witness G should not be visually identified but noted the commission did not possess voice-altering software, complicating the request.
  • Justice Madlanga said he would hand down the order on the application in due course rather than ruling on the spot.
  • Business Report characterised the week's Shibiri evidence as 'a tale of deception'; that is a media assessment, and Shibiri, who disputes the interference and corruption claims, is presumed innocent.

Full coverage

The day, in depth

Witness G asks for the cameras off

SABC News and EWN reported that a new protected witness, Witness G, applied to testify in camera with identity protection and voice distortion, saying disclosure could endanger him and his informers. His attorney, Tshepo Matlala, framed the request around safety, and Report Focus News reported the same protection was sought for those connected to him.

A practical snag and a reserved ruling

EWN reported that Chaskalson accepted Witness G should not be visually identified but flagged that the commission had no voice-altering software to meet the distortion request. Justice Madlanga reserved his order, saying it would be handed down in due course.

Our analysis

The bottom line

The Witness G application is a reminder that an inquiry into police corruption has to protect the very people whose information makes it possible. Balancing open justice against a credible fear for a source's life is a genuine tension, and the commission handled it soberly: Chaskalson conceded the visual-identity point while being candid about the technical limits on voice distortion, and Madlanga reserved rather than rushed his ruling. That is process working as it should, even if it makes for undramatic viewing.

For readers, the significance is what Witness G represents rather than anything he has yet said: if he was indeed Brown Mogotsi's handler, his evidence could bear directly on the Mogotsi threads that have run through Carrim's and others' testimony. But an application to testify is not testimony, and none of the claims about Witness G's role are tested. On Shibiri, the week closed with his account badly strained in the press, yet the commission's task is to weigh evidence, not headlines, and no finding has been made against him.

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.

On the record

Who testified this day

Testified · dismissed from SAPS

Major-General Richard Shibiri

Head of the SAPS Organised Crime component (dismissed)

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Follow the threads

Who Major-General Richard Shibiri connects to

Named in his account of interference

Lieutenant Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola

Sebola told the commission a caller naming himself 'Brigadier Shibiri' asked him to resolve the Aeroton bust 'amicably'; Shibiri is the prominent officer of that surname before the inquiry.

View profile →Distinct person, similar surname

Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya

Often confused: Shibiri (Organised Crime, dismissed) is not Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya (suspended deputy national commissioner) - different people, different surnames.

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Zoom out

Related case files

Case file · Drug seizures

Aeroton cocaine bust

A cocaine seizure from Brazil, routed through Durban to Gauteng, compromised at the scene with R55 million later unaccounted for - and a forensic trail pointing to an organised syndicate with insiders at the port. One of two cocaine cases the commission ties to the same trafficking pattern.

Read the case file →

In the room & on the record

Counsel, the panel and sources

Evidence led by

  • Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC (chief evidence leader)

On the panel

  • Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)

Sources

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