Sibiya present at Zim arrests, hearing told

Pretoria - The internal disciplinary hearing of suspended Gauteng Hawks head Major General Shadrack Sibiya continued in Pretoria on Thursday with a police crime intelligence sergeant insisting Sibiya was present at the arrest of a group of Zimbabweans allegedly subjected to an illegal rendition.

This contrasts with letters presented by Sibiya's counsel Paul Kennedy recommending that a completely different group of policemen be commended for the arrests, as well as a letter of gratitude from Zimbabwean police.

The arrests are believed to have been carried out so that the deportees could be handed to Zimbabwean authorities as suspects for a murder on September 18, 2010 of a police superintendent in Bulawayo, and for injuring several patrons at a restaurant during that shooting.

Sibiya has denied giving any order, or that he was at the scene, and has said previously that it was former colleague Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli trying to get him back for the investigation he conducted against Mduli for the murder of a love rival.

No mention

Sergeant Bongani Yende was asked to trawl through these letters and reports and to explain why neither he, nor Sibiya were mentioned in these documents.

But Yende insisted that he saw Sibiya when they gathered at a shopping centre in Fourways on November 5, 2010 ahead of an operation in nearby Diepsloot, with Zimbabwean police, where the group was arrested.

He was also put to the test over the navy blue BMW 330 he said he saw Sibiya in, talking on his cellphone.

He insisted the car was navy blue, not black as alleged in some affidavits, and that it was driven by an officer Makoe, who was once the driver for Mdluli.

Yende also said he did not know the people in post-operation photographs which featured Colonel ''Cowboy'' Maluleke, who had given instructions during the operation, and who was partial to wearing cowboy hats. A car with Zimbabwean registration plates was in the pictures.

In terms of the law, if a person is wanted for crimes in another country, or is in the country illegally, the police do not directly extradite them. Instead, a process should be followed that includes the Department of Home Affairs and the embassies of the relevant countries.