Sibiya races to court to stop Monday SAPS hearing from his cell

JOHANNESBURG — Suspended deputy national police commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya will ask a disciplinary chair on Monday to postpone an expedited South African Police Service hearing, his lawyer told the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Advocate Estelle Killian SC said the defence is not ready to proceed. She told the court there are three disciplinary notices on the table: a pending notice for a November hearing, an expedited notice set for Monday, and a third notice served on 30 September that tracks the criminal charges and carries no date.

“There is a pending notice for the November hearing, then there is the expedited notice which is to be heard on Monday, and then a third notice was filed and served on him based on these specific charges before him without a date indicated. So those are the three disciplinary issues,” Killian said.

She said the postponement application will be made when Sibiya appears on Monday. If it fails, the defence will go to the Labour Court.

The Monday hearing is the one SAPS set for 5 October. National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said a senior officer served Sibiya with the notice in the holding cells on Tuesday morning, the minimum five days the regulations require. She said the internal investigation had been finished and the hearing was brought under Regulation 9, the expedited route used where the allegations include corruption.

“We can confirm that the member in question has been served with a notice to attend a disciplinary hearing on October 5 on allegations arising from the Madlanga Commission inquiry,” Mathe told reporters outside court. She said the presiding officer is a senior officer, and that SAPS will be guided by the court.

Custody will not stop the hearing. If Sibiya is still inside, Mathe said SAPS will arrange with Correctional Services for the hearing to sit at Kgosi Mampuru II. If he is on bail, the venue will be sent to him.

Sibiya remains a lieutenant-general on the SAPS books, suspended. He was placed on special leave in July 2025. That leave was later treated as a suspension while misconduct allegations were investigated. The Madlanga commission’s first interim report recommended disciplinary steps and possible prosecution against him over the police-infiltration claims raised by KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

The criminal case is separate. Sibiya faces five charges, including rape, sexual grooming and human trafficking. Prosecutors have added a charge of alleged negligent possession of a firearm. The state says he raped an 18-year-old woman at a Sandton hotel in May after she was given alcohol and lost consciousness. It also alleges he sexually groomed a 16-year-old girl on WhatsApp between July and August, and that he possessed and shared sexually explicit images of the teenager, described as the daughter of an associate. A further allegation is that he trafficked three people for sexual exploitation. He has denied rape and has told the court, through his affidavit, that sex with the 18-year-old was consensual. He has called the charges trumped up. None of the allegations has been tested at trial.

Prosecutors say they have a strong case and are opposing bail. Magistrate Hleziphi Mkhasibe postponed the bail hearing to Wednesday, 7 October.

Sibiya is in solitary confinement at the C-Max section of Kgosi Mampuru II. His lawyers say those conditions have no justifiable basis and have made consultation difficult. The defence asked for a transfer, or at least another cell, and said Sibiya wanted the key to his cell so he could walk, citing claustrophobia. The court kept him at C-Max and ordered that arrangements be made for consultations. Investigating officer Det Nokukhanya Ndlovu, of the Commission Recommendations Task Team, told the court the placement was for security and was appropriate. The defence said detention conditions are a matter for the Department of Correctional Services.

The state also played new recordings it says go to witness interference if Sibiya is released. One recording involved a Bishop Maumela contacting a person identified as Mr M and asking to speak to the complainant. In another, Mr M is heard saying: “Don’t call me and speak about money on my phone.” The defence parked the recordings as new evidence. The court ordered proper translations before they are dealt with. Sibiya’s affidavit says he is not a flight risk, will surrender his passport and will report to a police station.

Monday is now two fights at once: the Regulation 9 hearing SAPS says will sit even if he is in custody, and the urgent bid to stop it.