Matlala’s wife intoxicated at Sibiya’s home, but top cop denies links with alleged cartel leader | Madlanga Commission

Suspended SAPS deputy commissioner, Lt-Gen. Shadrack Sibiya has conceded that the wife of an alleged cartel leader, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, became intoxicated at his son’s engagement party but he continues to deny any close ties to the tender tycoon.

The admission, at the Madlanga Commission on Monday, has drawn attention to Sibiya’s relationship with Matlala and raised fresh questions about transparency at the highest levels of policing.

The engagement party, held at Sibiya’s Midrand home on September 24, 2024, is now central to the commission’s probe.

Sibiya confirmed that both Matlala and his wife attended the event.

He also acknowledged that Matlala’s wife drank excessively that evening.

Yet despite the encounter, Sibiya insisted he and Matlala were not friends.

“I never denied speaking to him,” Sibiya told commissioners. “But we are not friends.”

Initially, Sibiya testified that he had only met Matlala for the first time earlier in 2024 and had spoken to him telephonically “at most three times.”

However, questioning by commissioners suggested a more involved connection than first disclosed.

Co-commissioner Sesi Baloyi put it bluntly: in her view, Sibiya “clearly” had a relationship with Matlala. Sibiya pushed back.

He denied inviting Matlala’s wife and suggested she had been brought to the party by colleagues, including acting deputy national commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen. Khosi Senthumule.

But Senthumule, in her own testimony, disputed that version.

According to a statement read into the record, Senthumule said she attended the event with a colleague because she did not trust Sibiya.

She described their professional relationship as “ever-changing” and said she felt uncomfortable going alone.

“I would either take my younger sister or a friend,” Senthumule said in her statement.

“In this instance, I took Major-General Thema … I informed her that I was actually uncomfortable going to this event because of the ever-changing nature of my relationship with Sibiya.”

Baloyi put it directly to Sibiya: Senthumule’s version does not support the claim that she brought Mrs. Matlala to the party.

Sibiya appeared resigned.

“I am going to say something here, that no matter what I say, I don't see changing the attitude of the commissioners in relation to my involvement in this thing,” he responded.

Further inconsistencies emerged around how Sibiya handled the situation when Matlala’s wife allegedly became intoxicated.

Baloyi questioned why Sibiya did not contact Matlala directly that night, choosing instead to communicate through a third party, referred to as Witness F, who was not even present at the event.

Sibiya said it was not his practice to communicate with Matlala directly and denied that Witness F acted as a go-between.

At one point, he said he did not want to have Matlala’s number saved on his phone.

Baloyi suggested he could have obtained the number from his own wife. Sibiya maintained he did not speak to Matlala’s wife and had not invited her.

Earlier, Sibiya testified that he did not personally greet Matlala at the gate when he arrived.

“There was no greeting … I bumped into him,” he said. “It’s not like I was seeing him for the first time. We greeted, and then he went and joined his wife.”

But co-commissioner, adv. Sandile Khumalo, pointed out that Sibiya’s original statement to the commission made no mention of Matlala attending the party at all.

“You don’t mention that there was an occasion where he was invited to your house and there was a party, and he did attend,” Khumalo said.

“Why does it have to come by way of a supplementary statement?”.

Khumalo pressed further: when someone comes to your home for the first time, do you not greet and welcome them?

Sibiya disagreed. “It’s not how it happens in all instances, especially under conditions like those,” he replied.

The hearing exposed Sibiya’s contradictions.

Sibiya is expected to continue his testimony on Tuesday

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