Shadrack Sibiya defends disbanding of political killings task team before Parliament

Suspended Deputy Commissioner and Head of Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, told Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating police corruption on Tuesday that the political killings task team (PKTT) should have been merged with the Murder and Robbery Unit.

Sibiya defended the disbanding of the task team, stating that it only served a tiny portion of the country and should have been a national structure.

He told the committee that the intention was not to "kill" the task team but rather to redirect its resources.

The former head of crime detection also denied any unlawful involvement in the disbanding, which he said was a decision made by National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, and not a directive from Minister Senzo Mchunu.

Speaking about the intention behind the restructuring, Sibiya stated, “We’re not saying the Political Killings Task Team must die. We’re saying we’ve now come up with a work study that says they must fall under Murder and Robbery Unit so that the whole country can benefit from the expertise to have expertise across the country to be able to fight these type of cases.”

Sibiya is currently wrapping up his evidence today before Minister Mchunu takes the stand on Thursday.