MADLANGA COMMISSION: Sibanyoni’s Putco bid puts focus on political access, business interests

The Madlanga Commission was shown video footage on Wednesday of Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni taking his commercial ambitions directly to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe. In the footage, he demands a 30% local stake in Putco and says that anyone interfering with the bus company should know “it’s us”.

The exchange reveals not only Sibanyoni’s political access, but his commercial ambitions and alleged influence in the public transport sector.

The Putco evidence before the commission also brought into focus the blockades and attacks that targeted the bus company, incidents in which Sibanyoni denied any involvement.

The video shows Sibanyoni claiming to be speaking on behalf of the community in KwaNdebele, the former apartheid-era homeland whose territory was largely incorporated into Mpumalanga after 1994.

This was all part of evidence from four days of testimony and cross-examination in which Sibanyoni faced questions about alleged extortion, business relationships, payments and his links to influential political and business figures.

As former president of the South African Local and Long Distance Taxi and Bus Organisation, Sibanyoni previously told the commission that there had been two attempts on his life — in 2006 and 2022. He alleged that Jothan Msibi, described as a “Big Five” cartel leader who died in 2024, was behind the first attempt. Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and others have been charged in connection with the second attempt in 2022.

Sibanyoni, associate Oupa Bafana Sindane and two others face charges of extortion and money laundering in the Kwaggafontein Magistrates’ Court in Mpumalanga.

The allegations relate to Ntuli’s Tengane Mining, which obtained a mining right in Mkobola in December 2022 to supply aggregate to King Civil, the SA National Road Agency’s (Sanral’s) main contractor for part of the Moloto Road.

Sibanyoni takes Putco fight to Ramaphosa, Mantashe

The Putco evidence before the commission opened with a January 2024 photograph of Sibanyoni with President Ramaphosa and Minister Mantashe.

Sibanyoni said the photograph was taken during an electioneering visit by Ramaphosa and Mantashe to traditional and royal houses, to engage with communities and listen to their concerns. He said Sergeant Fannie Nkosi sent him the photograph on 19 January 2024.

The commission then played footage of Sibanyoni directly addressing Ramaphosa and Mantashe about Putco.

“We are supporters of the ANC. We want to play a role,” Sibanyoni said, before telling the two politicians that they were in discussions with Putco, which had operated in the area for 43 years, but were facing “a lot of red tape”.

“Please assist us,” he told the President and Mantashe.

He then delivered the most pointed message in the footage: “When you find someone wanting to interfere with the Putco business, you must know it’s us,” Sibanyoni added. He said they were fighting for a 30% stake in the company, which he claimed had been gazetted for the people of the area.

“We will fight for ourselves,” he said.

He extended the warning beyond Putco, telling the political leaders they would also visit the mines: “When you see people at the mines you must know it is us.”

He ended with a direct appeal: “Don’t fight us, just support us.”

Sibanyoni intervention under scrutiny

Evidence leader advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC told the commission that Gauteng Central Bus Services (GCBS) and Putco had been in business together since 2019/20, with GCBS operating as a Putco subcontractor years before Sibanyoni became involved.

The chairperson questioned why Sibanyoni had intervened in an existing commercial relationship. Sibanyoni said he was acting for GCBS over the R50,000 Putco paid per bus, which he argued was insufficient to cover financing and operating costs.

He said he pushed for the payment to rise to about R90,000 per bus to cover instalments, running costs and drivers. The taxi association also wanted a new agreement allowing GCBS to acquire buses and sought community and traditional-leader sponsorships and development support.

The evidence put Sibanyoni’s intervention squarely inside an existing Putco-GCBS commercial arrangement, raising questions about his role in pushing for a substantially larger payment under the Moloto Road contract.

Putco bus arson claims under scrutiny

CCTV footage from Putco’s Moloto depot captured armed men holding workers at gunpoint and torching buses on 27 January 2025. A flammable liquid was sprayed over the buses before they were set alight. In all, 51 Putco buses were burnt across three depots.

Sibanyoni denied involvement in the attacks, and instead suggested Putco may have torched its own buses amid labour and industry disputes, although he had no evidence for the theory.

Chaskalson challenged this claim, pointing out that no strike or industry dispute was under way at Putco when the buses were torched.

Sibanyoni maintained that people involved in blocking Putco buses could potentially have been linked to the attacks.

He also cited complaints about Putco’s ageing fleet and inability to replace buses, linking this to accidents on the Moloto Road, known as the “death road” because of its history of fatal crashes.

Account of Taxichoice’s bid to buy Putco queried

Sibanyoni’s testimony placed his Putco ambitions against a company that had already made its position clear: it did not want to sell.

He told the commission that his last engagement with Putco was receiving a report-back on 2 August 2024.

Chaskalson pressed him on whether he had already approached Putco about buying the bus company. Sibanyoni said no.

But Chaskalson put it to him that Taxichoice, an affiliate of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), wrote to Putco on 25 February 2025 with an “unsolicited offer” to acquire a stake in, or the whole of, the business. 

Chaskalson underscored the significance of the wording: buying a business “as a going concern” meant buying the business itself.

Sibanyoni eventually acknowledged that Taxichoice had approached Putco in 2024 with a view to buying out the company.

Putco’s response months later left little room for ambiguity. In response to a 25 February 2025 Taxichoice letter, the bus company described the timing and content of the approach as disturbing, particularly against the backdrop of what it called “carefully organised and heinous attacks” on its employees and buses.

Its position was blunt: “At the outset, Putco is not on the market.”

Yet Putco set steep conditions for any bona fide expression of interest — including a R100-million non-refundable payment and a minimum R2-billion cash guarantee to its shareholders.

Chaskalson distilled the response: “We don’t want to sell.”

Sibanyoni’s answer was equally stark: after receiving Putco’s response, “we decided not to pursue the matter”. DM