AKA murder case triggered tense stand-off between top cops, says Sibiya

Suspended deputy police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya has attributed the tensions between himself and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to the arrest of the individuals allegedly involved in the murder of rapper Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes and his friend Chef Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane.

During his testimony before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee, Sibiya explained that when the previous police Minister, Bheki Cele, had asked about a debrief on the case, he contacted Mkhwanazi's deputy, instead of the KZN top cop. He did not think Mkhwanazi would make a big issue of this.

Thereafter, he got a call from Mkhwanazi, who, according to him, said: “You are not going to phone my province and order my people around”. 

Sibiya said that he did not take kindly to Mkhwanazi’s reaction and that the tensions between them were only resolved after Cele and Masemola stepped in with a meeting to fix their issues.

Sibiya said that he recalled the meeting as being cordial and that they shook hands and saluted as they left the meeting. “It was a mature meeting. There was no fight.”

He said even on the 4th of July, the eve of Mkhwanazi's press conference in which he laid bare allegations of political interference in the police, he “didn’t see it coming, actually”.

Mkhwanazi has accused Sibiya of being central in disbanding the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) despite being advised not to do so by national commissioner General Fannie Masemola, who had concerns with the directive issued by now-suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu in December 2024.

Sibiya said that he was aware of the PKTT but that “when I look at the PKTT as a task team, mainly focused on KZN, it is a cause for concern because when you look at the PKTT and the work that must happen, I can tell you that we have other political killings throughout the country not being tended to by the PKTT”.

Sibiya also said the PKTT, according to Masemola, was not a formal unit, and that he was therefore of the view that the commissioner did not see the task team as a permanent structure.

Cape Times