National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has publicly declined to comment on the impending High Court battle with suspended Crime Detection head, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya.
The Commissioner’s refusal to engage on the issue came during a media briefing on the sidelines of a drug destruction operation in Gauteng on Tuesday. This event followed the filing of court papers by General Sibiya, who is challenging the lawfulness of his suspension.
Sibiya’s court application, submitted to the Pretoria High Court, accuses Masemola of violating South African Police Service (SAPS) disciplinary regulations by forcing him to remain at home pending an investigation. He is seeking to have his suspension set aside.
When pressed for comment, General Masemola stated that the matter should be settled in a court of law, not in the public arena.
“You have seen what you have seen on social media and what you are writing about,” Masemola told reporters. “One doesn’t want to comment because what you see there is obviously his affidavit, and my affidavit is not yet ventilated. It will be ventilated in court. So let’s not create another platform to adjudicate on it here now on the street. Let it be adjudicated there at court, at the right place where it’s supposed to happen.”
Sibiya was instructed to stay at home by Masemola following serious allegations made by the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. The allegations, which implicate Sibiya in what has been described as a form of “capture” within the police service, are now the subject of a major official inquiry.
The inquiry, named the Madlanga Inquiry after its head, retired Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe, was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to probe the claims. Commissioner Masemola confirmed his willingness to participate if summoned.
“On the issue of the commission, yes, the commission is going to start soon and we’ll wait for the call. Probably we are called and we will go, we won’t be hesitant to go,” Masemola said.
The Madlanga Inquiry is scheduled to begin public hearings on September 1 at the Bridget Maban Justice College in Pretoria and is expected to continue for six months.
During the same briefing, Masemola shifted focus to the ongoing fight against drugs, highlighting Gauteng as a major national hub for narcotics distribution. He detailed how drugs enter the country through land borders, international airports, and seaports before being processed and redistributed across South Africa.
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