Sibiya appointed head of City’s Anti-Corruption Unit

10 November 2016

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba, who declared corruption as Public Enemy No 1 when he assumed office shortly after the August 3 local government elections, has appointed Major-General Shadrack Sibiya, former boss of the Hawks crime-busting unit in Gauteng, as Head of the City of Johannesburg's internal Anti-Corruption Unit.

 

Maj-Gen Sibiya has a distinguished policing career spanning several years. After serving as a Detective Captain in the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Pretoria, Sibiya rose through the ranks, becoming the Chief Special Investigator in the Free State branch of the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) and Head of the Hawks' Commercial Crime Unit. This was followed by his appointment as Head of the Hawks in Gauteng.

Sibiya led the joint Anti-Corruption Task Team set up by former President Thabo Mbeki to investigate corruption in the civil service in Bisho, Eastern Cape. More than 1 000 people were arrested in this operation.

In 2005, while serving in the Scorpions in the Free State, Sibiya effected 25 high-profile arrests of local politicians and businesspeople. Earlier this year he was cleared of fraud charges emanating from the 2012 police travel claims. It was alleged at the time that Sibiya and others were being pursued for "malicious purposes".

In announcing Sibiya's appointment yesterday, Mayor Mashaba said he had full confidence in him. "He possesses the integrity, experience and courage to perform this role in a fashion that will restore hope among our residents," he said.

The Mayor gave Sibiya three immediate tasks: to design and capacitate the anti-corruption unit, look into investigations that have been conducted within the City and its entities to ensure that findings were correct and carried out to the letter, and investigate all tenders to establish whether any of them had been awarded to City employees, their relatives or public representatives.