{"id":96057,"date":"2026-02-19T10:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:10:01","slug":"madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala","title":{"rendered":"Madlanga Commission Sibiya Denies Friendship With Matlala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has denied ever being friends with alleged criminal kingpin, Vusimuzi \u201cCat\u201d Matlala.<\/p>\n

While Sibiya confirmed knowing Matlala and having met him on several occasions, he claims they are not friends.<\/p>\n

Sibiya was testifying at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday and will resume on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe national commissioner alleges that it was indicated to him that I am close friends with Matlala. I vehemently deny that I am or have ever been a close friend of Matlala.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sibiya first met Matlala at his office in January 2024.<\/p>\n

Matlala approached Sibiya to assist with utilising the police college to conduct work for his around R360 million police health scheme tender.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t develop a friendship, but we have interacted but not to a level or a point where I can say \u2018we are now friends\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sibiya will continue with his testimony for the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has denied ever being friends with alleged criminal kingpin, Vusimuzi \u201cCat\u201d Matlala. While Sibiya confirmed knowing Matlala and having met him on several occasions, he claims they are not friends. Sibiya was testifying at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday and will resume on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nMadlanga Commission Sibiya Denies Friendship With Matlala - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has denied ever being friends with alleged criminal kingpi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Madlanga Commission Sibiya Denies Friendship With Matlala\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has denied ever being friends with alleged criminal kingpi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T10:54:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T11:10:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771486779.886007.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Madlanga Commission Sibiya Denies Friendship With Matlala\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-19T10:54:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-19T11:10:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\"},\"wordCount\":173,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771486779.886007.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/madlanga-commission-sibiya-denies-friendship-with-matlala\",\"name\":\"Madlanga Commission Sibiya Denies Friendship With Matlala - 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