A senior South African police officer appeared in court Tuesday on rape and sexual grooming charges, intensifying scrutiny of gender-based violence in a country with one of the world's highest violent crime rates.

Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, the suspended deputy national police commissioner, is accused of sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl between July and August 2026 and raping an 18-year-old teenager at a hotel in Johannesburg's affluent Sandton district, police said.

His arrest comes as authorities face growing pressure over gender-based violence after nine women were found murdered east of Johannesburg within the space of two months.

"Sibiya faces five charges, including rape, trafficking in persons, promoting the sexual grooming of a child and two counts of sexual grooming of a child," said the spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, Kaizer Kganyago. 

The case was postponed to September 29, Kganyago said. 

One in three women in South Africa experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, according to official data, and the government has declared gender-based violence a national disaster.

"As the country continues to confront the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), there can be no room for anyone within the police service who is alleged to abuse their position or violate the rights of women and children," said acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane.

The murders of nine women between July 15 and mid-September have fuelled fear and anger in the country.

"Our commitment to combating GBVF must apply equally within our own organisation. Rank, position or seniority cannot place anyone above the law," Dimpane said.

Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia described the allegations against Sibiya as "disturbing".

"Where allegations of sexual offences are made against a member of the service, they must be investigated without fear or favour, irrespective of the rank or position of the individual concerned," he said.

Sibiya was suspended last year after being accused of interfering in investigations into political killings.

Earlier this year, he appeared before a judicial commission probing corruption and criminality within the security services, where he faced allegations of links to criminal cartels.

The commission made recommendations to President Cyril Ramaphosa that Sibiya face criminal investigation.   

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© Agence France-Presse

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