Mkhwanazi was auditioning for a promotion – Sibiya

Suspended National Deputy Police Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, has claimed that the allegations made by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi are all part of a ploy to secure the position of head honcho in the police force.

Sibiya was responding to a question from Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP) Glynnis Breytenbach, who asked why the suspended General believes Mkhwanazi made the accusations that he did.

“This has got nothing to do with the 121 dockets and the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT),” Sibiya told Parliament on Tuesday.

“According to me, this has to do with the succession battle within the police. Why do I say so? Because this whole thing is meant to block me.”

This follows a press conference held in early July, where Mkhwanazi broke ranks to make serious allegations about how South Africa’s policing and criminal justice system had been captured by criminal syndicates.

Mkhwanazi implicated several high-ranking officials, including now suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and General Sibiya.

“The people of South Africa have just been taken for a ride,” Sibiya claimed.

The succession battle refers to who will succeed National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, who confirmed to Parliament last week that his five-year term as National Commissioner comes to an end in 2027.

Sibiya explained that his suspicion came about following a radio interview where he admitted that, should he be offered the top job, he would take it.

“The next thing, the media were running headlines such as ‘Sibiya vs Mosikili vs Mkhwanazi’” he said.

Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili is currently the National Deputy Commissioner for Policing.

He says that the arrest of Divisional Commissioner for Crime Intelligence Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo came soon after, which Sibiya claims angered Mkhwanazi.

Khumalo was arrested at the end of June, along with five other officers, for allegedly appointing a civilian without police training to the rank of Brigadier.

“He then sent a message to a friend and colleague containing a Tupac song that says ‘I’ll kill them at night while they are sleeping,’” Sibiya said.

“Mkhwanazi became so furious that I even began to hear that he thought I had something to do with Khumalo’s arrest.”

How the relationship soured

Sibiya was suspended in mid-September after receiving a notice from National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, accusing him of obstructing the PKTT, a specialised unit formed to probe politically motivated assassinations and organized crime in KZN.

Mkhwanazi alleged that Sibiya stalled investigations, shielded politically connected suspects, and attempted to disband the team by taking control of over 120 sensitive dockets.

Sibiya has denied this, stating the team had achieved its purpose and was disbanded following a directive from suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu in December 2024, after consultations with senior SAPS leadership, including Masemola.

Relations between Sibiya and Mkhwanazi soured after Sibiya reportedly bypassed Mkhwanazi by directly instructing his deputy on tasks related to the murder of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes.

This led to Mkhwanazi banning Sibiya from operating in KZN. Sibiya claims this was a routine inquiry into the case’s progress and accuses Mkhwanazi of a personal vendetta and “playing mind games” with the public.

Mkhwanazi described Sibiya as an “enabler of malfeasance” with alleged ties to the criminal underworld.

This includes controversial figures like businessman Brown Mogotsi (linked to tender corruption) and Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala (facing attempted murder and money laundering charges).

Sibiya denies any criminal involvement

When asked how much of Mkhwanzi’s allegations are true and how much is conjecture, Sibiya said that the KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner is “playing the country and playing mind games with South Africa.”

“It is so unfortunate, the situation in which I found myself when your colleagues are pushing you out and they make your life so difficult and they paint you black and create an irretrievable broken relationship,” he said.