Suspended deputy national police commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya says tensions between him and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt- Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi began after he asked Mkhwanazi's team to brief about arrests in the murder of music superstar Kiernan "AKA" Forbes.
Sibiya revealed this on Monday in his testimony before parliament's ad hoc committee probing allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system.
He said he and Mkhwanazi had maintained a good working relationship for years until he asked for a brief on the murders of AKA and his friend, chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, outside a restaurant along Florida Road in Durban in February 2023.
He was very angry... He said you're not going to phone my province and order my people around, and I said, we're not fighting, nobody's fighting
— Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, suspended national police commissioner
Sibiya said during an operation in Cape Town, then police minister Bheki Cele asked him if the team was certain they had arrested the right people.
"I said I'm quite sure. He [Cele] said, 'Can I have the team to brief me?'. I said that can be arranged."
Sibiya said he then contacted the deputy provincial commissioner of KZN, asking that they brief the minister.
"I was supposed to actually contact the provincial commissioner but I contacted the deputy provincial commissioner simply because we have been having a good relationship with Gen Mkhwanazi. I never thought he would actually make a big issue out of me."
He said he was later asked to contact Mkhwanazi, who was reportedly not impressed with him [enquiring about Forbes' case].
"I called the PC [provincial commissioner] with all the confidence that I had because I knew we had a relationship and when he responded, he was fuming. He was very angry... He said you're not going to phone my province and order my people around, and I said, we're not fighting, nobody's fighting'."
Sibiya said he apologised to Mkhwanazi, who told him that he does not report to politicians.
He was also asked about a private meeting he had with Mkhwanazi and suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu in May, where the two were asked to clear their issues.
Sibiya said he and Mkhwanazi spoke and even shook hands.
But during a media briefing on July 6, Mkhwanazi labelled Sibiya a criminal, saying: “There can never be peace between a criminal and a policeman."
During that briefing, Mkhwanazi said 121 case dockets were removed from the political killings task team in March and shelved at the police head office in Pretoria.
Sibiya said that even before the media briefing, Mkhwanazi had invited him to an award ceremony in the province, which he did not attend because he had other engagements.
Sowetan
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