WATCH | 'Weird and secretive' – Sibiya slams SAPS over mysterious disbandment of political killings task team

Pretoria – Suspended Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has questioned his exclusion from the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), despite holding top secret clearance and overseeing detectives and intelligence-led policing in the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee probing police corruption, Sibiya described the task team’s structure as “weird” and “deeply concerning,” revealing it operated with little transparency and reported directly to Crime Intelligence and a small circle of senior officers — including Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, and Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya.

General Shadrack Sibiya says National Commissioner Fannie Masemola should have acted on the PKTT disbandment letter immediately, instead of waiting to return from leave.#AdHocCommittee pic.twitter.com/W3KhzvUQBD

— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) October 13, 2025

Sibiya said he was never briefed on the team’s work, even though investigating political murders fell within his division’s mandate.

The PKTT, created to probe politically motivated assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal, was disbanded in late 2024 following an instruction from then–Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who claimed the unit “no longer added value.”

The disbandment has since sparked political and legal controversy, with accusations that SAPS leadership undermined efforts to combat political killings.

WATCH | Lt-General Shadrack Sibiya says some of the 121 PKTT dockets were not only about political killings but also about other issues. He adds some of the dockets were last updated in 2020, adding that they were dead already, gathering dust and not being updated at all. pic.twitter.com/5Bngep3b5Z

— SABC News (@SABCNews) October 13, 2025

Mkhwanazi, meanwhile, alleged that rogue political forces were behind the move and even suggested that Mchunu was not the real author of the disbandment letter.

Sibiya, often linked to the decision, denied direct involvement and instead criticised the task team’s lack of oversight and deviation from SAPS protocols.