Shibiri denies knowledge of ‘Big Five’ cartel at Madlanga Commission

Suspended South African Police Service (SAPS) head of organised crime Richard Shibiri said he had no knowledge of the ‘Big Five’ cartel group.

The group is believed to be made up of crime bosses who run an underworld mafia network stretching across the taxi, mining, private security, and extortion sectors. 

Shibiri was quizzed at the Madlanga Commission on Friday about his knowledge of the group.

Last year, the head of crime intelligence at SAPS, Dumisani Khumalo, testified at the Madlanga Commission about the ‘Big Five’. 

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Khumalo said that to his knowledge, he believed controversial businessmen Katiso ‘KT’ Molefe and Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala were part of the group.

On Friday, the commission was shown a transcript of a call between Shibiri and Witness A, an officer under his unit. 

In the call, Shibiri refers to a group of five people. 

However, when asked about the identity of the group, Shibiri did not give a straight answer.

“That is what I deny, I never talked about a cartel. I said the person arrested (Molefe) he was involved with a group of 5 and they had business interests. My denial was about that one (cartels).”

At the time of the call, Witness A was investigating Molefe for orchestrating the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart.