Socialite Serge Cabonge Claims Police Connections Helped Get Case Withdrawn At Shadrack Sibiya Bail Hearing

Socialite Serge Cabonge has told a man identified in court as “Mr M” that he once used his police connections to help resolve a case involving the daughter of a former girlfriend, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court heard.

In an audio recording played during suspended former deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya’s bail hearing on Tuesday, Cabonge claimed the charges were withdrawn shortly after he intervened. The recording became a point of discussion as the defence and investigating officer addressed its relevance to the proceedings.

Serge Cabonge Describes Alleged Police Connections In Audio Recording

The 25-minute recording captured a conversation between Cabonge and Mr M, the father of the 16-year-old at the centre of the sexual grooming allegations against Sibiya. Cabonge spoke about his relationship with a man he said was sitting at the front during proceedings at the Madlanga Commission, although neither the man nor the magistrate he mentioned was identified in the recording.

“You see the guy who is sitting in Madlanga there (Commission) in the front there? I have been very close to one of them for many years,” Cabonge said.

He claimed a magistrate had introduced him to the man because they lived in the same residential complex. Cabonge then described an incident in which his former girlfriend’s daughter allegedly collided with a woman carrying a child while driving in Sandton, prompting police enquiries.

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“There was a time when my ex-girlfriend’s daughter was involved in an incident. She was driving around Sandton when she bumped into a woman who was carrying a child,” he said.

According to Cabonge, his former girlfriend contacted him for assistance after Sandton police began making enquiries. He claimed another person, whom he called Nika, had told the man that Cabonge had connections that could help.

Cabonge said he subsequently met the man, who explained the circumstances of the case. He claimed he requested the case number and contacted someone to check the matter on the system.

“They gave me the information and said, ‘Why are you stressing? The person investigating this case is your friend, Memo,’” he said.

Cabonge claimed he asked for two weeks to deal with the matter and later learnt that the case had been withdrawn. He also alleged that the woman involved had already received a call instructing her to withdraw it.

Shadrack Sibiya Bail Hearing Examines Recording’s Origin

The recording was played as Sibiya returned to court for the continuation of his formal bail application. The State alleges that Sibiya raped an 18-year-old woman at a Sandton hotel on 15 May after she was given alcohol and lost consciousness.

He also faces allegations of sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl through WhatsApp, possessing and sharing sexually explicit images of her, and trafficking three people for sexual exploitation.

The teenager’s father is referred to as Mr M in court documents to protect his daughter’s identity. The State has accused Sibiya of attempting to intimidate or influence him, allegations that the defence has challenged.

Detective-Sergeant Nokukhanya Ndlovu, the investigating officer in Sibiya’s case, confirmed that the recording captured a conversation between Cabonge and Mr M. She told the court that the recording had allegedly been sent to Sibiya’s wife, Sizakele Dlamini.

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Sibiya’s lawyer, Estelle Killian SC, questioned Ndlovu about why the recording had been sent to Dlamini. The detective said she had been examining an affidavit submitted by Dlamini and checking whether Mr M had stated that the case had been withdrawn.

“I was assessing the affidavit provided by Mrs Dlamini and all the attachments submitted by the defence, as well as ascertaining whether Mr M had ever stated that the case had been withdrawn,” Ndlovu said.

Ndlovu said Mr M had confirmed that the conversation was his and that the attached recording was authentic. However, she acknowledged that she could not explain why he had sent it to Dlamini.

Serge Cabonge Recording’s Relevance Questioned In Court

During further questioning, Killian challenged the purpose of playing the recording, asking what the court was expected to take from a conversation in which Sibiya was neither the subject nor mentioned by name.

Ndlovu said the recording was presented because Mr M had confirmed its authenticity and because it provided context for Dlamini’s affidavit. She added that the purpose of her enquiries was to establish whether the case discussed in the recording had been withdrawn.

“What I had to inquire about on that day was the withdrawal of the docket,” Ndlovu said.

The defence subsequently indicated that it no longer wished to introduce the audio recording and had made it available to the State. The court proceedings did not establish that Cabonge’s account had been independently verified.

Magistrate Hleziphi Mkhasibe postponed the matter to Wednesday for the continuation of Sibiya’s bail hearing.