The suspended head of the organised crime unit in the South African Police Service, Richard Shibiri, has denied handing out three envelopes to bribe officers investigating the assassination of a whistleblower linked to businessman and alleged leader of the Big Five cartel, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
“I did not distribute envelopes or provide money. I did not solicit bribes. I did not suggest concealment of evidence. I did not instruct the investigators to participate in any corrupt conduct, more especially to disrupt the course of justice,” he testified at the Madlanga Commission this week.
The commission is investigating claims of police corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi last July.
Witnesses A and B have told the commission that Shibiri invited them to his office and informed them that there were three envelopes floating around, suggesting they take a bribe to influence an ongoing case. He subsequently requested a rewriting of a case docket, which implicated a Johannesburg central police station officer, Pule Tau.
The case involved the murder of Armand Swart, a Vereeniging engineer who was mistaken for a whistleblower in a Transnet tender scandal. The investigation led to the involvement of the KwaZulu-Natal-based political killings task team and a joint search-and-seizure operation at Matlala’s residence.
Shibiri told the commission he was urging the officers not to take a bribe, instead of offering it to them.
“Any reference made during the meeting about money, envelopes or bags of money was a direct repetition of the intelligence received from a source.
“It was not a suggestion or instructor endorsement or corruption. I expressly cautioned the investigator not to accept any bribe,” he insisted.
Witness A and B told the commission that Shibiri subsequently invited them to a police social gathering at the Villa and Spa Hotel with intentions to influence the case.
“I did not blur those boundaries by converting a social environment into an operational space,” he responded this week. His attendance at the party was “recreational and personal”, Shibiri added, arguing he did not summon junior officers to question them and that other senior officials were present.
“No evidence was viewed there. No strategic decisions were taken there. No person present was granted access to privileged information by virtue of being present at the settings.”
Shibiri is on the list of senior police officials that the Madlanga Commission recommended for further investigation in its interim report. President Cyril Ramaphosa has since established a special investigation task team to look into police collusions with organised criminal cartels.
Shibiri also denied allegations that he leaked case information about Swart’s hired killer to Matlala.
“Any interaction or knowledge contributed to me arose from within the professional duties and operational mandate.”
Shibiri confirmed that he had known Matlala since 2024 but denied any impropriety. He said he met Matlala through mutual friends and knew him as a private security provider.
“I did not represent him in my official capacity nor did I intervene in any investigation process on his behalf,” he said.
Although Matlala had lent him R20 000 for a personal matter, he said he had paid it back and later returned an additional R50 000 owed.
“I forwarded my son’s banking details to Mr Matlala via WhatsApp. It was agreed between us that the loan would be repaid during December 2024, which allowed me sufficient time to raise the funds as planned.”
Madlanga commissioners questioned the propriety of the head of organised crime exchanging funds and favours with the alleged leader of a criminal cartel.
Shibiri responded: “It was not a business partnership, not a financial arrangement, not an operational alliance. We would come across each other from time to time.”
He also denied that he ever interfered in the investigation at the request of now suspended deputy national police commissioner for crime detection, Shadrack Sibiya.
He said that although Sibiya was part of the panel which decided his promotion, he got the job because of his qualifications and experience.
“Having responded fully to the matter contained in the summons and having addressed each allegation placed before the commission, I respectfully reiterate that I have never participated or facilitated or associated myself with criminal syndicates, improper influence, corruption, obstruction of justice with the South African Police Service or any component of the criminal justice system,” he said.
On Wednesday, Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga expressed concern over the number of sick notes submitted by witnesses. He said the medical certificates submitted did not detail the medical condition, arguing that this is used to cause postponement.
“It looks like we’ve reached a stage where we are getting quite a few of these medical certificates and this is quite bothersome,” he said.
This comes after Northwest businessman Brown Mogotsi postponed his testimony on Monday citing medical reasons.
Speaking before the commission on Wednesday, Mogotsi said he was suffering from diarrhoea and argued he had always cooperated with the commission during his first appearance in November.
Madlanga said the commission would consider calling doctors to verify the sick notes before witnesses could be excused.
Parliament’s ad hoc committee, which is conducting a parallel inquiry in corruption in the police service, heard this week that the disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team strangely coincided with the annual leave
of national police commissioner Fannie Masemola.
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu sent out the controversial disbandment letter letter on 31 December 2024, the date Masemola started his leave, deputy commissioner for visible policing Tebello Mosikili told legislators.
She said the letter was sent during the festive season police visibility campaign and that Mchunu never mentioned plans to disband the task team during the exercise. The campaign visited the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and ended in KwaZulu-Natal before they “parted ways with the minister on the 28th”, she said.
Two days later, when she was back in Pretoria, Mosikili learnt about Mchunu’s sudden letter whose timing she found suspect as it coincided with Masemola’s leave and during a busy festive season campaign.
“To be honest and frank, I became confused. I was unsure, I was also surprised and I questioned the authenticity of the directive as I could not believe the content and precisely because of the tone of the letter,” she said.
“For me it was unexpected, and in particular, [with] the national commissioner we had discussions on matters to attend to and the date was just too close from the time that the national commissioner was to start the leave…
“And I took time to interrogate, looking at various other issues that this directive will have, how it was conveyed and I think, most importantly the fact that it already leaked to the media when we had not yet dealt with the matter internally.”
Sibiya, who effected the disbandment, has argued that he intended to capacitate the South African Police Service’s murder and robbery unit to perform the same function as the task team and investigate broader crime violence.
But KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Mkhwanazi accused Sibiya of colluding with cartels and of removing 121 dockets from the political killings task team. The dockets were subsequently returned by acting police minister Firoz Cachalia.
This week Mosikili said the disbanded task team was made up of detectives from outside KwaZulu-Natal and divided into four teams to work at different districts where political killings were rife. There were plans to expand the unit to Limpopo and Gauteng.
She said there were currently ongoing interventions elsewhere in the country, including the Western Cape, adding that she doubted task teams would be disbanded any time soon. Mosikili also said she disagreed with the methods of those advocating to strengthen the murder and robbery unit to replace the task team.
The senior police office told the Madlanga commission that he was simply warning investigators in a case involving Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala case that they should not be swayed by bribes
