Johannesburg - “All I can say is that we are closing the net on him, and we will reveal who this person is.”
This was the pledge made by a seething Shadrack Sibiya, the former Gauteng Hawks boss, who asserted that he knew the identity of the parody Twitter account “Man’s Not Barry Roux”, and vowed to expose the anonymous user.
The parody account has caused a frenzy on social media this year, with a slew of allegations that Sibiya received R1 million from music producer Sello “Chicco” Twala to protect his son, Longwe, who supposedly shot and killed former Bafana Bafana captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa in October 2014.
Both Twala and Sibiya vehemently denied these assertions in an interview with Independent Media in February, and challenged the Twitter user to provide proof.
On Sunday, “Man’s Not Barry Roux” alleged that Sibiya received another R1 million from unnamed robbers in Booysens, Joburg.
This followed another tweet from last week Monday, where, according to the parody account, Sibiya received more than R1 million “appearance fee” from the Cape Town criminal underworld in November 2016.
On 09 November 2016 Herman Mashaba appointed thug Shadrack Sibiya as Anti-Corruption Boss while in the same month Shadrack Sibiya meet a Cape Town underworld & collected more than R1-million “appearance fee” from the gang Boss. pic.twitter.com/oi23FUthlv
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 4, 2018
This was before the former top cop was hired by Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba as the head of the city’s crime and corruption-busting unit.
Speaking to The Star on Tuesday, Sibiya said the parody Twitter account was receiving information from people close to the police, where they use real information from investigations he was involved in, but “they just twist the truth to suit their dubious intentions”.
“We have been following his tweets and analysing them quite frequently. We look at the matters which he normally tweets about and we can see where this information is coming from, or who might’ve provided certain information.
“We are trying to corner him because there is certain information that we use, and we believe we do know who he is,” Sibiya said.
He couldn’t be drawn into revealing where the analysis was coming from, but said the parody account user was at the recently-held South African Music Awards (SAMAs) in Sun City and was using an Android-powered phone.
“All I can say is that we are closing the net on him, and we will reveal who this person is at some point – we will get there. We just have to ensure we get the proper signatures in order for us to get to the man,” Sibiya said.
He did not reveal the name of the parody account user, but added that “Man’s Not Barry Roux” tweeted mostly from Pretoria Central and also from Cape Town.
“I want him to continue tweeting because we are using his tweets. The more he tweets, the more we are using his information to close down on him.
“We are using the information of his tweets to wind down on him; he must keep them coming. At first we were worried about his tweets, but now we want them,” Sibiya charged.
On why someone would launch an attack on him on social media, Sibiya said his time at the Hawks had earned him many foes, both within and outside law enforcement agencies.
Sibiya also promised to launch a defamatory lawsuit once the parody account user was exposed, saying: “He will definitely feel the pain at some point. He is enjoying the tweets, but he must just know that nothing lasts forever.”
See some of the tweets below:
The group was involved in the hijacking of a truck containing the copper to the value of over R2 million as per Villiera case registered in 2012. A Zimbabwean national was murdered by some members of the DPCI after implicating an associates of Shadrack Sibiya. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
According to a case registered in 2013, Brent House was robbed and alcohol to the value of R700,000 was taken. It was later discovered that some of the whisky bottles robbed from Brent House were purchased by Peter Henry, an associate of General Shadrack Sibiya. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
Later some of the alcohol was delivered to a pub situated at the premises owned by Shadrack Sibiya in Pretoria. The case docket for this crime was later bullied off the hands of a Constable from SAPS Bedfordview by the DPCI. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
R1 million worth of copper was stolen as per Booysens case docket registered in April 2013. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
The buyer of the stolen copper turned out to be General Shadrack Sibiya’s associate Peter Henry the owner of Greengate Metals in Krugersdorp, a company under investigation for illicit trade of precious metals. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
Another business robbery case registered in Booysens in 2012, over R2 million was taken and one the the persons involved in the robbery later confessed to have contacted General Shadrack Sibiya and informed him that the job had been successfully executed. #ShadrackSibiya
— Man's Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) June 10, 2018
Thug Shadrack Sibiya subsequently met the robbers and collected R1 million of the money. #ShadrackSibiya