Sibiya quits police force as Randburg court weighs bail on rape and trafficking charges
The suspended deputy national police commissioner resigned on the day his disciplinary hearing opened, and SAPS has classified his exit as a dishonourable discharge.
Shadrack Sibiya has resigned from the South African Police Service with immediate effect, walking out of the force on the same day his disciplinary proceedings began and while he waits in custody for a decision on bail.
Sibiya, the suspended deputy national police commissioner, faces charges including rape, human trafficking and sexual grooming of a child. He has been held since his arrest on 21 September and has denied the allegations. His bail application continues in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
As eNCA reported on 13 October, the case returns to court as the bail bid proceeds. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe confirmed that his departure was classified as a dishonourable discharge because he resigned while facing disciplinary proceedings, and that his employment was terminated with immediate effect on 12 October.
That classification is the part South African readers will notice first, because it is the only part of this matter the police service controls. A dishonourable discharge is an administrative finding rather than a criminal one. It carries no prison term. It speaks to how a member left the service, not to whether the allegations against him are true, and it does not decide the charges he now faces in Randburg.
The rank matters for the same reason. The deputy national commissioner sits near the top of a service of roughly 150,000 members, in a layer that sets operational direction and answers for discipline below it. A resignation at that level, taken mid-hearing, lands on a force that has spent years arguing it can police its own.
The case now runs on two tracks that move at different speeds and answer to different tests. In the magistrate’s court, the question is bail: whether Sibiya is released while the case proceeds, and on what conditions. In the disciplinary process, the question was whether he remained a member. That second question has been answered by his own hand, and the service has recorded its view of how he answered it.
Both tracks remain open. The criminal case and the bail application are ongoing, and no finding has been made on the charges. Sibiya has denied them.
For a reader following this from outside the courtroom, the sequence is the thing to hold on to. Arrest on 21 September. Custody since. Disciplinary proceedings opened on Monday. Resignation with immediate effect. Employment terminated on 12 October. A dishonourable discharge recorded. And a bail decision still to come.
