Sibiya, Matlala and the USB: A timeline of what we know and what we don't

"It's only a matter of me dying by any format that USB will be given to the right people."

That line was put before the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, 7 October 2026. It comes from WhatsApp messages written by a father known in court only as Mr M. His 16-year-old daughter is one of the complainants in the criminal case against suspended deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya.

Mr M says the file holds about 300 voice recordings. He says it covers Sibiya, tender businessman Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, politicians, senior officials and "all people who disappeared", IOL reported.

Nobody has shown the USB to a court. Sibiya denies all the charges against him.

So how did a police general end up in a maximum security prison, with a flash drive hanging over the case? It started fifteen months ago with a press briefing in Durban.

Who is Shadrack Sibiya?

Sibiya was the deputy national commissioner in charge of crime detection at the South African Police Service. That made him one of the most senior detectives in the country.

He has been off work since July 2025, when national commissioner Fannie Masemola told him to stay at home. On 9 September 2025 the Pretoria High Court dismissed his urgent bid to return to work, EWN reported. He said he would appeal.

He is not convicted of any crime. He is in custody while a court decides whether he gets bail.

Who is Cat Matlala?

Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala is a businessman whose company, Medicare24 Tshwane District, won a R360 million police health services contract in June 2024. The police cancelled it in 2025.

He has been in custody since 2025. He faces a separate attempted murder case linked to the 2023 shooting of a car carrying his former girlfriend, actress Tebogo Thobejane.

A plea deal in the tender fraud case fell apart in July 2026. A magistrate wanted a longer sentence than the eight years agreed, Matlala withdrew, and the deal was declared "null and void", Daily Maverick reported. He has not been convicted.

In May 2026 Masemola himself and 12 senior officers appeared in court on corruption and fraud charges linked to the same contract, Daily Maverick reported. None of them has been convicted either.

How did the Sibiya saga start?

On 6 July 2025, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi held a press briefing in Durban in full uniform, with members of a police task team beside him.

He accused police minister Senzo Mchunu and Sibiya of interfering with the Political Killings Task Team, a unit that investigates political murders in KwaZulu-Natal. He alleged a criminal syndicate had reached into the police, politics and the courts. Mchunu and Sibiya both denied the claims.

A week later, President Cyril Ramaphosa put Mchunu on leave and set up a commission of inquiry led by retired Constitutional Court justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. It is known as the Madlanga commission. A commission of inquiry is a public investigation. It can recommend action but cannot convict anyone.

Sibiya and Matlala: The timeline

What did Matlala say about Sibiya at the Madlanga commission?

On 30 October 2025 the commission played a recording of Matlala speaking to an investigator, EWN reported.

Asked how he knew Sibiya, Matlala said: "He's a criminal himself, Sibiya." He also claimed he gave Sibiya about R300,000 as a contribution to his son's wedding.

Sibiya denied it. At the commission in February 2026 he said: "I categorically deny that I acquired or received any impalas from Matlala or any other person for that matter." He also denied receiving R500,000 in cash at his son's engagement party and called police recordings "false evidence", TimesLIVE reported.

Then Matlala's story shifted. When he testified in person on 24 August 2026, he left Sibiya out of his affidavit, called him "not my friend" and said they had been in contact on about four occasions, Daily Maverick reported. He repeatedly used his right not to incriminate himself.

Photo: Dmitry Makeev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What are the charges against Sibiya?

Sibiya faces two separate processes. One is criminal, in court. The other is a police disciplinary process about his job.

The criminal charges include rape, sexual grooming of a child and trafficking in persons, plus a firearm charge added on 1 October. The State alleges he raped an 18-year-old woman at a Sandton hotel in May 2026 and sent sexual messages to a 16-year-old girl in July and August, IOL reported. He denies all of it.

At his bail hearing he called the case a "diabolical plan" against him. The State is opposing bail and says he is likely to interfere with witnesses, EWN reported. He is held at Kgosi Mampuru II in Pretoria.

The disciplinary charges are about Matlala, not the criminal case. TimesLIVE listed seven. They include allegedly accepting R500,000 and R300,000 from Matlala, receiving 20 impalas, and persuading Matlala to pursue a case against the political killings task team. At the commission, he denied receiving cash or impalas from Matlala.

What did Sibiya's wife say in her affidavit?

His wife's affidavit was handed in to support his bail bid.

In it, she says Mr M "wanted to withdraw charges in this matter and meet the Sibiya family", EWN reported. She says he threatened to expose dealings between Sibiya and Matlala and claimed to have recordings, photographs and location reports.

Sibiya's legal team went further. It alleged Mr M had raised R300,000 to withdraw the charges with a church leader, and that two people were pressuring him to keep feeding information about Sibiya.

None of this has been tested. The State says it has a strong case. Mr M has not testified in public.

What is the USB in the Sibiya case?

The USB came out of the same WhatsApp messages, which were exchanged between Mr M and Sibiya's wife.

"Somebody already has this file for me, this USB," Mr M wrote, according to IOL. He said he had recorded Sibiya on the phone and in person, and had kept notes on meetings.

The defence used the messages to argue that the case is about pressure and leverage. For the public, the messages raised a different question. If a file like that exists, who has it, and what is on it?

Photo: Ruby D-Brown / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

What we know and what we don't

What we know - Sibiya is in custody and charged with rape, sexual grooming, trafficking and a firearm offence. He denies the charges. - The Madlanga commission heard evidence linking him to Matlala. He denied taking cash or impalas. - SAPS has brought seven disciplinary charges about Matlala and confidential information. - Mr M's messages describing a USB were read out in court on 7 October.

What we don't know - Whether the USB exists, who holds it, or what is on it. - Whether any recording of Sibiya will ever be tested in court. - Why Matlala called Sibiya "a criminal" in 2025 and "not my friend" in 2026. - Who the two people allegedly pressuring Mr M are. The defence has not proven it. - How many criminal counts he faces in total. Reports say between four and six.

Is Sibiya linked to the Madlanga commission arrests?

Yes, in one direct way. He was arrested by the commission recommendations task team, a police unit set up to act on matters raised at the inquiry.

His case is part of a wider wave. Daily Maverick's list of Madlanga-related arrests runs from Matlala to Masemola and senior officers in Crime Intelligence and the Hawks. It is the same police service that stopped publishing farm murder figures years ago, now being investigated from the inside.

The question many South Africans keep asking is the one our look at where the state capture money went asked too. When the evidence is aired in public, how many cases end with a conviction?

Photo: shi zhao / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

When is Sibiya's next court date?

The next eight days decide a lot.

• Monday 12 October 2026. The SAPS disciplinary hearing resumes. His Labour Court challenge runs alongside it.
• Tuesday 13 October 2026. The Randburg Magistrate's Court is expected to rule on bail.
• November 2026. A second disciplinary hearing is expected to start, TimesLIVE reported.
• 25 January 2027. The Madlanga commission's final report is due to the president.

If bail is refused, Sibiya stays in Kgosi Mampuru while the criminal case moves to trial. If it is granted, a suspended general walks out while a father says a USB is waiting somewhere for the day he dies.

Either way, one thing is now on the court record. Somebody, somewhere, is said to be holding that file.