Suspended Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, allegedly wanted information about the Armand Swart murder case, not to brief the national commissioner as an official report, but to ‘brief’ the side of the suspects.
This was according to Witness A, who testified at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, detailing the call between himself and the national head of Organised Crime, Major General Richard Shibiri.
Witness A is a detective with the SAPS’s organised crime unit in Gauteng, and Armand Swart was an employee of a Vereeniging engineering company.
He was shot dead after alleged hitmen mistook him for his boss in April 2024. The company Swart worked for had uncovered a 4 650% overpricing on small engineering parts at Transnet.
Witness A said Shibiri’s call came on December 16, 2024, which was 10 days after Katiso Molefe’s arrest.
Molefe is a controversial businessman and murder accused in the assassination of DJ Sumbody. He is also linked to the murder of Swart.
“He (Shibiri) wanted to tell me who this person we arrested is, and how he is connected to the cartel, and then how the hierarchy stands, because he told me the names to say there is this guy who is connected to that person…” Witness A stated.
He (Shibiri) soon told me that he had received an invitation to attend a birthday party of General Sibiya at his farm, Witness A said.
Shibiri then told Witness A that he declined the party invite on the excuse that he was not too well.
“He (Shibiri) told me that at the back of his mind, he knew that (Sibiya) wanted him (Shibiri) to be at the party so that he could give progress feedback on the Armand Swart case. Then he said he didn’t want to do it because he knew that General Sibiya didn’t want it (the information) to brief the national commissioner, but he wanted to brief the other side (suspects),” Witness A said.
The witness also stated that Shibiri told him that Sibiya kept asking to be briefed about the Swart murder case to know what was happening. At some point, Shibiri told Sibiya to speak to Major General Mbuso Khumalo, Gauteng Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection, if he wanted to be briefed with speed, according to the testimony.
Witness A said that Shibiri told him that he could tell Sibiya was unhappy with his (Shibiri’s) response. Shibiri told Witness A that he owed his promotion to General Sibiya.
“General Shibiri also said that he knew that General Sibiya did not want the information for the national commissioner, meaning he did not want the information in order for him to brief the national commissioner, but rather for the other side, to say now he was going to be briefing the side of the suspect. I understood this to mean that General Sibiya wanted information on the Swart murder investigation for the accused person, not for the national commissioner as an official report,” Witness A said.
Shibiri then told Witness A that they (investigators) needed to be careful because the people they are dealing with are heartless and would never allow ‘us’ to relax.
Shibiri also told Witness A about the links between Sibiya, EFF leader Julius Malema, and one guy who is a close friend of Malema.
“During a call with General Shibiri, he told me that Molefe was part of a group of five individuals with interests in mining in the North West province. And that one of those guys belongs to a group of aboMswazi naboMthakathi (Mswazi and Mthakathi). That is him saying the names now. He also said another guy, a Zulu guy, a tall guy, describing him to me, he is known as Ze, who stays in Sandton, who I understood from him to be Ze Nxumalo,” Witness A stated.
“He (Shibiri) said Ze is a close friend of Julius Malema, who is a politician, who then tends to be close to General Sibiya. So, he (Shibiri) was connecting the person that we arrested (Molefe) to Ze, and then Ze to Julius Malema, and then Julius Malema, who is a friend, to General Sibiya, the deputy national commissioner. Now, he (Shibiri) is painting a picture that I should be aware that this is how the chain goes.”
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is investigating allegations of collusion and corruption between politicians, senior police, prosecutors, intelligence operatives, and elements of the judiciary, levelled by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
