Opinion I “The Sibiya–Sharrick–Matlala Triangle
South Africa is a nation held hostage by a deepening crisis of credibility within law-enforcement leadership. At the centre of this moral collapse lies Lt. Gen. Sibiya — a man whose name continues to surface in disturbing proximity to individuals whose lives are marked by violence, criminality, and a pattern of miraculous escapes from justice.
Today, two names demand the attention of every South African who believes in the rule of law: Stuart James Sharrick and Cat Matlala. These are not minor figures. They are not petty offenders. They are men with convictions, with criminal cases withdrawn under questionable circumstances, and with long, troubling histories that should disqualify them from any association with senior leadership in SAPS.
Yet bizarrely — or perhaps revealingly — they are not only close to Lt. Gen. Sibiya, they form part of his personal survival ecosystem.
The Strange Brotherhood of Suspended Sentences and Withdrawn Dockets
Let us begin with the most glaring fact:
- Stuart James Sharrick, convicted on 18 consolidated counts, walks away with a mere five-year suspended sentence.
- Cat Matlala, handed a four-year sentence, continues to move freely and operate as though untouched by consequence.
But this only scratches the surface. Both men share a disturbing pattern — a trail of cases mysteriously withdrawn. These are not civil disputes, not traffic fines, not minor misdemeanors.
They include:
- Attempted murder
- Carjacking
- Common assault
- Violent crimes
- Criminal complaints that, for ordinary South Africans, would result in immediate incarceration
How is it possible that both individuals enjoy the same immunity from accountability?
Is this coincidence?
Is this luck?
Is this divine intervention?
Or is this a systemic rot, where the criminal underworld and elements within SAPS have woven themselves into a mutually beneficial web, shielding each other from justice?
- Assistance on Demand: The Sibiya–Matlala–Sharrick Triangle
The relationships between these three men reveal a pattern not of friendship, but of strategic mutual dependency.
- When SAPS fails to pay Matlala, he does not approach HR or the courts — he runs to Sibiya.
- When Sibiya is suspended, it is not SAPS, the Ministry, or the State that comes to his aid — it is James Sharrick, who generously “rescues” him by providing a bulletproof luxury vehicle for personal use.
Bulletproof cars are not charity items. They are not goodwill gestures. They are instruments of war, tools of protection for individuals who expect danger, retaliation, or exposure.
The question writes itself:
Why would a convicted man supply a top cop with a bulletproof vehicle?
What does he gain?
What does Sibiya owe?
Who is protecting whom — and from what?
- The Attraction to Criminality: A Cop or a Conduit?
When two men with criminal records, withdrawn dockets, violent histories, and miraculous legal fortunes orbit so closely around a senior police general, the nation must interrogate whether this is merely proximity — or partnership.
Is Sibiya drawn to such characters because he is the only one who can “help” them?
Or do these relationships expose the structural connection between the underworld and the upper ranks of law enforcement?
For too long, South Africans have been told about “rogue units”, “isolated incidents”, and “coincidences”.
But the coincidences keep multiplying.
And always in the same direction.
A General Surrounded by Shadows
A suspended general riding in a bulletproof car provided by a convicted man is not a coincidence.
A police official being the “patron saint” of a man whose SAPS payments mysteriously falter is not a coincidence.
Two associates possessing:
- serious criminal histories,
- withdrawn dockets, and
- strategic legal “luck”
is not a coincidence.
It begins to resemble a pattern — and patterns point to networks.
South Africans must now confront the uncomfortable but necessary question:
Is Lt. Gen. Sibiya simply an unfortunate magnet for questionable characters — or is he part of the very criminal machinery he claims to fight?
Because the facts reveal a man who does not merely mingle with the underworld — he appears protected by it, supported by it, and rescued by it.
The Moral Collapse of SAPS Leadership
This matter goes far beyond the reputation of one general.
It strikes at the integrity of the entire criminal justice system.
When cops consort with criminals, justice dies.
When criminals rescue generals, the state collapses.
And when generals depend on convicted felons for survival, South Africans must ask whether the badge still means anything at all.
The moral crisis of SAPS is not theoretical.
It is lived daily by communities terrorised by crime, abandoned by leadership, and betrayed by those who swore an oath to protect them.
- A Call for a National Reckoning
As Rev. Mo’hau Khumalo, I say this unequivocally:
South Africa must no longer tolerate a policing culture where generals walk hand-in-glove with gangland personalities.
We must demand:
A full forensic investigation into the Sibiya–Sharrick–Matlala triangle
- A judicial inquiry into why so many serious cases were withdrawn
- Accountability from SAPS leadership
- Transparency regarding who funds and protects senior officers
South Africans deserve a police service, not a police syndicate.
They deserve generals who uphold the law, not generals chauffeured by criminals.
And they deserve truth — not these convenient lies dressed as “coincidences”.
Until then, the stench of corruption around Lt. Gen. Sibiya and his criminal companions will continue to hang over SAPS like a dark cloud — because the company a man keeps ultimately reveals the man he truly is.
-✍🏾Rev.Mo’hau Khumalo
Social Commentator & Transformation Advocate
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