Sibiya challenges Mkhwanazi amid growing tensions in South African police force

Suspended Deputy National Commissioner of Crime Detection Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya has accused fellow top police officer Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of playing with the emotions of South Africans as part of a plot against him.

“General Mkhwanazi is playing the country and he’s playing a mind game [with] the country… because he knows how to play with words… in such a way that the country gets moved,” Sibiya told Parliament on Tuesday, 14 October 2025.

Sibiya was speaking at the ad hoc committee hearing into allegations that Mkhwanazi initially made, including that a drug cartel had infiltrated policing, politics and private security.

Tuesday’s proceedings at times became heated.

There was even a reference to an apparent lyric by American rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996.

 At one point during Tuesday’s proceedings, Sibiya was asked if he was a corrupt cop, to which he replied: “I am not.”

Sibiya began testifying at the parliamentary ad hoc committee hearing on Monday.

MPs had the opportunity to question him on Tuesday.

This came about because Mkhwanazi had previously accused people, including Sibiya, of being part of a vast plot to thwart investigations into a criminal cartel that had infiltrated law enforcement.

According to Mkhwanazi’s allegations, now sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was influenced into disbanding KwaZulu-Natal’s political killings task team as part of that plot.

Other accusations Mkhwanazi made included that Sibiya had removed more than 100 dockets from the task team.

Sibiya denied wrongdoing, but was first placed on leave and subsequently suspended.

On Tuesday in Parliament, Sibiya made his feelings clear, flatly denying Mkhwanazi’s accusations.

‘Succession battle’

The DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach was among the MPs who questioned Sibiya, whom she said she had known for 20 years.

Replying to her queries, Sibiya said the saga had nothing to do with the political killings task team dockets and outlined why he believed he was the target of a plot.

“This, according to me, it’s about the succession battle within the police,” he said.

“And why I’m saying this… I know that in this case… this whole thing is meant to block me”.

Sibiya explained that during a radio or television interview, the retirement earlier this year of Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya came up. Sibiya said he was asked if he would consider filling that position, to which he had replied: “Well, given that opportunity, I will go.”

#sapsHAWKS Members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Head Office are today bidding farewell to the National Head of the DPCI, Lieutenant General (Dr/Adv) Godfrey Lebeya (SOEG), during a formal event held at the Promat Building in Silverton.

Lieutenant General… pic.twitter.com/48zXuA0NFX

— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) May 22, 2025

Sibiya said the media had reported on this. (News reports at the time indicated that Mkhwanazi, Sibiya and the deputy national commissioner responsible for police, Tebello Mosikilli, were front-runners for the job.)

On Tuesday in Parliament, while replying to questions, Sibiya also referred to the arrest of Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo.

Daily Maverick previously reported that Khumalo and six colleagues were arrested in June this year in connection with an allegedly irregular appointment. They denied the accusations.

‘So furious’

Mkhwanazi has previously inferred that Khumalo was targeted as part of a plot to destroy certain investigations.

On Tuesday, while addressing Parliament, Sibiya said that Khumalo’s arrest had angered Mkhwanazi “to the extent that he sent a message” to a friend and colleague, which contained an apparent Tupac Shakur lyric saying: “I’ll kill them at night when they’re sleeping.” (It was not clear which song this was from.)

Sibiya said that Mkhwanazi was “furious” about Khumalo’s arrest, as was National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.

He began hearing that he – Sibiya – was also facing arrest, and so he approached Masemola about this, who said that it was not the case.

Read more: LIVE | Mkhwanazi’s claims motivated by succession battle in police — Sibiya to Parliament

Sibiya said that on the evening of 5 July, Mkhwanazi had called him and asked if he would be going to KwaZulu-Natal.

The next day, on 6 July, Mkhwanazi held a press conference during which he first made the allegations about infiltrated law enforcement and accusations against individuals, including Sibiya.

Sibiya said he was given no forewarning.

He was adamant that Mkhwanazi had acted preemptively because it appeared that Masemola was about to be arrested.

On Monday, Sibiya testified that his relationship with Mkhwanazi had been good until an issue surfaced when he asked about arrests in connection with the 2023 murder of musician Kiernan Forbes, also known as AKA.

‘Questionable characters’

Other issues discussed during the parliamentary ad hoc committee hearing on Monday and Tuesday included Sibiya’s dealings with two people central to the law enforcement scandal – ANC businessman Brown Mogotsi and crime accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

Mogotsi, an ANC businessman from North West, has been pointed out as an information peddler who has ties to Mchunu.

Matlala is a tender tycoon based in Gauteng and faces accusations of attempted murder and money laundering.

Mkhwanazi previously alleged that Matlala was financially supporting Mogotsi and Mchunu’s political aspirations.

Read more: Registration of ‘Cat’ Matlala’s private security company sparks shakeup at industry watchdog

Sibiya said on Tuesday that there was nothing underhanded about his interactions with the duo.

Several MPs asked him about how he, a high-ranking police officer, could simply meet people without doing some basic checks on them.

The MK party’s Sibonelo Nomvalo at one point put it to Sibiya: “You’re a [police lieutenant] general. For you to have a relationship with people who have questionable characters can never be justified.”

In response, Sibiya again made it clear that he was not a friend of the people they were discussing and that it was not unusual for senior officials to meet various figures.

Breakfast with Mogotsi

Sibiya said on Monday that he knew Mogotsi as an activist and that Mogotsi had warned him that certain people were working at having him dismissed from the police service.

Sibiya said he met Mogotsi in person for the first time at a hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town, around 8 January this year, when he was in the city for work. This coincided with the ANC’s birthday celebrations.

Mogotsi had joined him for breakfast (which, Sibiya pointed out, Mogotsi had forgotten to pay for).

Sibiya was repeatedly asked on Tuesday about his dealings with Mogotsi

Read more: Reports link Cyril Ramaphosa campaign to shadowy figure at the heart of cop scandal

He reiterated that Mogotsi had once warned him: “These people are working against you because they want to push you out.”

Sibiya also emphasised that it was Mogotsi who had initiated the meeting at the Camps Bay hotel.

“Even if you check the footage, you’ll see,” Sibiya said.

He told MPs he remained in contact with Mogotsi about general issues.

Meeting Matlala

As for Matlala, it was heard on Monday that Sibiya knew him as a service provider to the South African Police Service and that he was “running a hospital” at the police college (It previously emerged, outside of the ad hoc committee hearings, that Matlala was last year awarded a R360-million policing contract that has since been terminated).

Sibiya had told the Parliamentary committee that in February last year, when he was acting as national commissioner, Matlala made an appointment to meet him.

Matlala’s attorney had been with him, and Matlala had complaints relating to the tender he had been awarded.

Sibiya said he approached Masemola about the matter, about which he knew little else.

During Tuesday’s proceedings,  Sibiya emphasised that Matlala had not been facing criminal accusations at the time of their meeting.

Matlala was arrested earlier this year and faces attempted murder and money laundering charges.

Parliament’s ad hoc committee is set to resume hearings on Thursday, when Mchunu is expected to testify. DM