Johannesburg – South Africa’s Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, has been suspended with immediate effect as pressure mounts over ongoing investigations into political killings in KwaZulu-Natal.
The suspension was ordered on Friday by Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, who accused Sibiya of four counts of misconduct. Central to the allegations is that Sibiya instructed the withdrawal of case dockets from the specialised task team probing political murders in the province — a move Masemola says was done without authorisation and delayed investigations.
President Cyril Ramaphosa created the task team in 2018 to deal with the surge of politically motivated killings in KwaZulu-Natal, which remain a major source of instability in South Africa. Its work has drawn regional concern, including in Eswatini, where developments across the border are closely followed given the two countries’ shared security interests.
Sibiya’s suspension follows an earlier stay-at-home order issued in July. He had challenged that decision in court but lost last week. The court found that his arguments — including claims that Masemola overstepped his powers and ignored a judicial commission of inquiry into political violence — were unfounded.
Masemola has now directed Sibiya to surrender his official appointment certificate, firearm, laptop, cellphone and access card.
Despite the ruling, Sibiya has vowed to appeal, maintaining that the suspension is unlawful and based on untested claims made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. He insists he had no role in weakening or disbanding the political killings task team.
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