‘Betrayed by my brothers’: Sibiya accuses police of turning on him
Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya says he feels betrayed by his own colleagues after heavily armed officers raided his Centurion home on Thursday morning.
Speaking to journalists outside his house, Sibiya said the operation, led by members of the National Intervention Unit and other elite task teams, felt like an attack from within.
"I feel like Joseph, whose brothers threw him into a pit,” he said. “I’ve worked with my colleagues for years, but for them to turn on me like this, that’s beyond me. I’m not angry. I’m hurt.”
Sibiya described scenes of fear and confusion as masked, heavily armed police surrounded his home around 3 am for a search and seizure operation.
"They came here and took gadgets from everyone, my wife, my children, even my elderly mother, who’s sick,” he said.
“My kids were terrified. They were secured in a room while officers searched through our belongings. I wish my colleagues had thought about my children before storming into my home like this.”
He said the raid was part of a larger effort to push him out of the police service, insisting he would not resign.
"I know they want to push me out. I will never resign, they must fire me,” he said.
“This whole exercise is meant to confuse me, to keep me under pressure, and to disrupt my preparations for the ad hoc committee and the Madlanga Commission.”
Sibiya said he has been living under surveillance for months, with unmarked vehicles regularly parked outside his home.
"There are cars with false registration numbers moving up and down every day,” he said.
“I’m under siege. My life and my family’s lives are in danger. Even the officers assigned to protect me report on my movements. This is not protection, it’s monitoring.”
He accused members of the police of abusing their power and said he no longer feels safe among those he once worked with.
"This is an abuse of power,” Sibiya said. “We are all in the afternoon of our careers, we should not be going through this. Why can’t I be dealt with decently as a colleague, until a court finds me guilty?”
His lawyer, Ian Levitt, who was present during the raid, questioned the legality of the search and said the matter will be challenged in court.
"It will be determined by a judge in due course,” Levitt said.
“We were never served with the application or the affidavit that gave rise to this search. When six cars full of masked gunmen with automatic rifles come to a house with children and an elderly woman, it raises serious questions about intent.”
Levitt said he viewed the early-morning operation as part of an “unrelenting show of force” that began in August, describing it as unnecessary and intimidating.
Sibiya, who has been on suspension since September, is expected to appear before Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Monday.
He said his seized laptops and cellphones contained research and documents for his submissions to both the committee and the Madlanga Commission.
"My gadgets are gone, and I’m expected to prepare for two major processes,” he said. “This is meant to derail me, but I’ll face it head-on. I’ve been through the eye of a needle before.”
Sibiya is the subject of serious allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who accused him of working with alleged information peddler Brown Mogotsi and Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to have the province’s political killings task team disbanded.
He denied any wrongdoing and said his contact with underworld figures was part of his work as a police officer.
"My job is to investigate criminals, I’m not a priest,” he said. “I’ve been doing this work for nearly four decades. I deal with people in the criminal world every day, that’s my job.”
Sibiya said despite the pressure, he intends to appear before the committee and clear his name.
"I’ll face the bullet,” he said. “Let them do what they have to do. But I’ll defend my name.”
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