Madlanga Commission hearing record
Day 63 of the Madlanga Commission
Witness: Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya
On his second day, Sibiya faces fierce cross-examination over his role in dismantling the Political Killings Task Team and his knowledge of figures linked to organised crime. Reporters describe an officer under sustained pressure.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Cross-examination intensified on day two, with Daily Maverick describing Sibiya as being skewered under fierce questioning.
- The disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team was central: how it was ordered, on whose authority, and whether the approved process was followed.
- Questioning probed Sibiya's account against the documentary record and against the versions given by other officers, exposing points of tension.
- Sibiya continued to contest the allegations, maintaining that his decisions fell within his authority as a senior commander.
- The day set up the concessions that would follow, as the gap between Sibiya's narrative and the paper trail was pressed repeatedly.
- Presumption of innocence remains; nothing on this day constituted a finding against Sibiya.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
Fierce cross-examination
Daily Maverick reported that General Sibiya was skewered like a kebab under fierce cross-examination, capturing the tone of a day in which his answers were tested line by line. The questioning focused on his handling of the task team and on his contacts with people the commission had heard were tied to criminal networks.
The task-team question
A central thread was the process by which the Political Killings Task Team was wound down. Evidence leaders pressed Sibiya on whether the steps taken matched the approved plan, and on the effect the changes had on live investigations, laying the groundwork for the admissions that came later in his testimony.
Our analysis
The bottom line
The second day showed the method the commission had adopted for testing a senior witness: not a single dramatic confrontation but a steady accumulation of questions that set Sibiya's own words against contemporaneous documents. That approach tends to be unforgiving for any witness whose account has drifted from the record, and the reporting suggested Sibiya spent much of the day defending gaps rather than advancing a clean narrative.
It is worth keeping the colour of the coverage in proportion. A phrase like skewered like a kebab describes the atmosphere in the room, not a legal conclusion. Sibiya was entitled to contest every point, and he did. What the day established was less any specific wrongdoing than the direction of travel: the harder the documentary questions became, the more the commission narrowed the space between what Sibiya said had happened and what the paperwork showed.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
Follow the threads
Who Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya connects to
Stuart James Scharnick
Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo told the commission in November 2025 that Scharnick acted as Sibiya's personal protector while not employed by the SAPS, and that Sibiya frequently used a vehicle Scharnick owned. Sibiya has said he did not know Scharnick had had run-ins with the law; Scharnick denies being a bodyguard and says he lent Sibiya an armoured vehicle after the police withdrew his protection. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →Subject of his allegationsLieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Mkhwanazi named Sibiya among the senior officers he alleged interfered with investigations.
View profile →Co-named over the disbandmentSenzo Mchunu
Both were named in connection with the weakening of the political killings task team.
View profile →Distinct person, same surnameLieutenant Colonel Kwazikwakhe Sibiya
Not to be confused with Lieutenant-Colonel Kwazikwakhe Sibiya, a junior officer witness in the R200m cocaine matter - a different person.
View profile →Distinct person, similar surnameMajor-General Richard Shibiri
Often confused: Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya (suspended deputy national commissioner) is not Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri (dismissed Organised Crime head) - different people, different surnames.
View profile →Alleged gifts; Matlala refused to answerVusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Sergeant Fanie Nkosi testified in March 2026 that Sibiya raised no objection to gifts from Matlala, including 20 live impala said to have been delivered to Sibiya's farm in March 2024. Asked about the recording on Day 160, Matlala said 'I do not want to incriminate myself because I know that the recordings are under investigation'. Untested; Sibiya denies wrongdoing and is presumed innocent.
View profile →Zoom out
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