• Former police general Shadrack Sibiya resigned while facing corruption claims and criminal charges involving two teenage girls, including rape and human trafficking.
• Former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi was jailed for corruption after his links to a convicted drug smuggler brought down his career.

South Africa has seen a top cop fall from power and end up behind bars before. 

His name was Jackie Selebi.

Now, 16 years after Selebi’s corruption conviction, another powerful former police general, Shadrack Sibiya, is behind bars facing rape, human trafficking and other serious charges.

Sibiya denies wrongdoing, but his resignation amid corruption claims has brought back memories of Selebi’s downfall.

Their stories are different, but both raise a troubling question: Who protects South Africans when those trusted to fight crime face criminal scandals?

Sibiya resigned on 12 October, just as his disciplinary hearing was about to begin. Police classified his departure as a dishonourable discharge.

He was arrested in September and faces charges including the rape and sexual grooming of two teenage girls, human trafficking and negligent handling of a firearm.

During his bail hearing at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, his lawyer Estelle Ellis argued that the evidence did not support the human trafficking charge.

The court is expected to deliver its bail ruling on 20 October.

But Sibiya’s troubles go beyond the criminal case.

At the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, chaired by retired Judge Mbuyiseni Madlanga, is investigating claims of corruption and criminal influence within the South African Police Service.

Sibiya has been accused of receiving cash and gifts from suspected criminals. He denies the claims.

His clash with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has also exposed divisions within police leadership and raised questions about interference in sensitive investigations.

Sibiya joined the police in 1989, during apartheid. He later served in the Scorpions and headed the Hawks in Gauteng.

In July 2023, he became Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, one of the country’s most powerful policing positions.

Selebi’s journey was different.

A former liberation activist and diplomat, he was appointed national police commissioner by former president Thabo Mbeki in 2000. Four years later, he became president of Interpol.

But his friendship with convicted drug smuggler Glenn Agliotti brought down his career.

Agliotti testified that he had paid Selebi more than R1.2-million in bribes and covered his shopping expenses.

In July 2010, Selebi was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

There is one crucial difference between the two men.

Selebi was convicted. Sibiya faces charges and accusations that have not been proved.

Yet both cases raise serious questions about the integrity of South Africa’s police leadership.

For ordinary South Africans, this is more than a battle between powerful generals.

It is about whether rape victims can trust detectives, whether families of missing children can expect justice and whether criminals can influence those investigating them.

The danger goes beyond policing.

If criminal networks gain influence over senior officers, police intelligence, criminal investigations and national security could be at risk.

The Madlanga inquiry must establish whether powerful people interfered with investigations and whether criminals gained influence within the police.

Selebi’s conviction showed that even the country’s top police officer was not above the law.

Sibiya’s case now tests whether South Africa has learnt from that scandal. His guilt or innocence must be decided by the courts.

But 16 years later, the country faces another crisis of confidence in its police leadership.

And when South Africans lose trust in the badge, who is left to protect them?