Shibiri stands on financial difficulty when accepting loan from Matlala

Suspended top cop Richard Shibiri has reiterated that he was in financial difficulty when he accepted a payment from alleged crime boss Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala.

Shibiri, who's the head of organised crime at the South African Police Service (SAPS), said the R70,000 was to fix his son’s damaged car.

However, evidence at the Madlanga Commission on Thursday shows Shibiri and his son had more than R100,000 in their joint bank accounts at the time.

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On Wednesday, Shibiri conceded that before accepting the money, he knew Matlala had corruption allegations against him and recently won a multimillion-rand tender with SAPS.

Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga said Shibiri and his son did not need to take money from Matlala, as the quotation to fix the car was about R55,000.

“You basically didn’t need Mr Matlala’s money. Correct?” Madlanga asked.

“Incorrect,” Shibiri replied.

“Why so?” Madlanga pressed on.

Replied Shibiri: “As I indicated yesterday [Wednesday], I had planned to build a wall back home [in Limpopo] and at my house [in Johannesburg] and also we were renovating my dad’s tombstone in March, so, hence, I needed extra money knowing that in December, I would be having in excess of R130,000 - R150,000 [from his bonus], which I could easily pay back the money I could’ve loaned. So that was my reasoning.”

However, Madlanga wasn’t convinced with the explanation, saying Shibiri had not previously disclosed the thanksgiving and tombstone ceremonies.

“Why is it that you start doing that, piling on and piling on, once I say that between you and your son, you actually comfortably had an amount in excess of R105,000? Why do you keep adding and adding? It appears to me that you are trying by all means to indicate to us that you were really in need of money.”