‘Sibiya’s knowledge of Zim renditions highly improbable’
By Barry Bateman
PRETORIA – Hawks management has alleged it’s highly improbable that the unit’s Gauteng head, Shadrack Sibiya, would not have known about the operation to arrest and deport Zimbabwean suspects.
This was heard at Sibiya’s disciplinary hearing in Pretoria where he’s accused of planning and carrying out the operation which led to the rendition of five Zimbabwean suspects in 2010.
Evidence shows former Hawks head Anwa Dramat met with Zimbabwean police in November 2010, the day of the first operation.
Advocate William Mokhari put it to Sibiya that it is highly unlikely that Dramat met with the Zimbabweans without his knowledge.
Sibiya further disputed the allegation that he ought to have known that Gauteng Hawks members participated in the operation.
“General Dramat does not need me or my permission to hold any meeting with anybody. If he decided to hold a meeting with a Zimbabwean and I am not part of it and he didn’t call me, it is his prerogative as the employer to decide who he wants in that meeting.”
On Thursday, Sibiya said he first heard of the illegal rendition from a police officer who had falsely accused him of assault.
“I heard from one of the Crime Intelligence officers informing me that this is what they’re planning to do.”
He said he was told that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigator was also trying to put pressure on his subordinates.
“He met with my members, I remember two of them reporting to me that he was trying to influence them to make a statement against me and to say that I gave them instructions to go and arrest those people and deport them.” Eye Witness News
