Sibanyoni got R2.29m for ‘doing nothing’ but denies extortion claims
Taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni conceded on Tuesday at the Madlanga commission that he received R2.29m from a subcontractor involved in a R3.7bn Moloto Road upgrade project in Mpumalanga for doing nothing, but denied extortion allegation against him.
Sibanyoni, president of the South African Local and Long-Distance Taxi and Bus Organisation, faces criminal charges of extorting Tengane Thomas Ntuli, who owns a company that supplied aggregate stone to the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral’s) R573 project.
Sibanyoni, who is alleged to be an extortion cartel leader, told the commission he had entered into a partnership with Ntuli because the latter needed to meet a “30% local content” requirement to get the tender in Mpumalanga from Sanral’s main contractor.
He contended that without him, as a resident of Kwaggafontein, Ntuli would not have won the tender. He, however, could not point to the commission a specific regulation which stipulates the requirement.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi put it to Sibanyoni that the 30% local content seemed to require locals in an area to provide services and get paid.
Sibanyoni accepted that he received R100,000 a month for merely entering into a “partnership” with Ntuli without providing any service to the company.
In an affidavit, director of the mining company, Bathabile Ntuli, said payments made to Sibanyoni “under duress as we were fearing for our lives, taking into account the bad operation history of Mr Joe Sibanyoni in Kwaggafontein”.
Bathanile said it was a normal practice that “if you do not cooperate with his [Sibanyoni] demands, your life will be in danger.”
While Sibanyoni was adamant that Ntuli could not get the tender without entering into a partnership with him, there was no paper trail to prove of his deal with Ntuli.
“I want to put it to you that, if the local share was a requirement of this contract either under regulation or under the terms of the tender with Sanral, there would have to be some documentary evidence of your interest in Tengane,” chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson put it to Sibanyoni.
However, Sibanyoni said Ntuli had the responsibility to ensure of such paper evidence to Sanral, not him.
Madoda Johannes Sibanyoni , Mvimbi Daniel Masilela, Philemon Msiza and Bafana Sindane have been granted R70,000 bail by the Delmas magistrates court on the extortion and money laundering case against them. Sibanyoni’s right-hand-man Oupa “Bafana” Sindane made threats to stop Ntuli’s company operations when Ntuli did not pay. However, Sibanyoni said such was not done on his “instruction”.
“At no point was Mr Ntuli’s operation stopped. Me and Mr Ntuli had a very good relationship; at no point did I make threatening messages,” he said.