Pretoria – The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday dismissed an application by Gauteng Hawks boss Shadrack Sibiya to halt an internal disciplinary hearing.
Judge Hans Fabricius ruled that the matter brought by Sibiya was not urgent and struck it from the court roll.
“The third respondent [acting Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza] opposed this application on different grounds and I do not intend to deal with any allegations made against the applicant [Sibiya] which, I must say, are of a very serious nature,” he said.
“Despite vigorous argument, counsel for the applicant has not convinced me at all to depart from principles followed by court for over 40 years. The result is that the matter is not urgent,” said Fabricius.
Sibiya was handed a charge sheet last week, ordering him to face the disciplinary hearing on Friday.
Ntlemeza reportedly insists Sibiya should be charged with kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.
In an affidavit opposing Sibiya’s return to work, Ntlemeza says there is a prima facie case against suspended Hawks boss Anwa Dramat and Sibiya.
Ntlemeza says the pair have a case to answer for the 2010 rendition of Zimbabwean nationals, the official reason for their suspension.
“I am satisfied that there is a compelling case for the applicant to answer to these heinous crimes,” says Ntlemeza.
He is appealing against a court order declaring Sibiya’s suspension illegal.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria previously said the decision to suspend Sibiya was taken in bad faith because both the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Hawks’ integrity unit had cleared Sibiya of being involved in the illegal rendition of Zimbabwean nationals.
Ntlemeza, however, argued that Judge Elias Matojane made “startling findings” in his ruling.
In 2010, five men, including Witness Ndeya, Gordon Dube and Pritchard Tshuma, were illegally repatriated to Zimbabwe by the Hawks.
Proper extradition processes were not followed and Ndeya and Dube were killed, allegedly by Zimbabwean police.
In a draft report, IPID found Dramat and Sibiya were directly involved in the renditions. According to a final report, compiled in March 2014, they were cleared on the basis of additional evidence.
