Shibiri faces more questioning over ‘friendship’ with Matlala
Suspended Organised Crime Unit head Richard Shibiri is back at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
Shibiri is facing further tough questioning over his relationship with alleged crime boss and tender businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.
On Wednesday, the general struggled to explain a R70,000 “loan” he received from Matlala.
Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga put it to Shibiri that the money did not appear to be a genuine loan.
Madlanga suggested the payment could instead have been intended to influence the senior police officer.
Matlala was arrested in May last year over the alleged hit on his ex-girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane.
He faces attempted murder charges and remains behind bars after several failed bail applications.
READ: Alleged murder plotter Vusi Matlala to stay behind bars
Police officers conducted two raids at his house.
“I suggest to you that, once there were these raids, you saw that the police were catching on to Mr Matlala and you decided that the money that had been paid to you; not as a loan; you should now suddenly pay back to Mr Matlala so as to make it look like a loan.”
When pressed by Commissioner Sandile Khumalo, during questioning on Wednesday, on why he had not run a background check on Matlala, Shibiri defended his approach.
“In my lifetime, I've met a lot of people. I do not look into them unless I have a reason. At that time, he appeared to be a good person. I had nothing against him, and I had not heard anything bad.”
Shibiri recounted his first meeting with Matlala in 2016 through a mutual acquaintance.
“They would talk about their work, and sometimes about life and sports, but most of the time the talk was between themselves. I just listened.”
He added that contact resumed in 2019 when he accompanied Brigadier Modise to Matlala’s premises for work purposes.
Shibiri stressed that his interactions with Matlala were strictly professional.
“Organised crime requires penetration and infiltration. You speak to different people, some good, some bad, to get information. That was my objective. nothing more.”
ALLEGED INTERFERENCE IN POLICE INVESTIGATIONS
A witness at the commission previously accused Shibiri of interference in the investigation of the murder of Vereeniging engineer, Armand Swart.
In the inception phase of the commission, Witness A told commissioners that Shibiri called him and another investigator, warning them that the suspects in Swart’s murder were “dangerous people.”
Swart, who worked for Q Tech Engineering, was shot dead while seated in his vehicle outside his workplace in Vereeniging in April 2024.
Veteran police officer Michael Pule Tau and two alleged hitmen, Musa Kekana and Floyd Mabusela, were arrested in April last year in connection with his killing.
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