Taxi boss Oupa Sindane linked to extortion racket and leaked police intelligence

An internal Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) letter linking Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s alleged use of blue lights to the EMPD was sent to the phone of taxi boss Oupa Jossiah “Bafana” Sindane, the Madlanga Commission heard on Monday.

The document – allegedly sent to Sindane by intermediary Timothy Moyane – forms part of a broader trove of cellphone records and financial evidence that places the taxi tycoon at the centre of allegations involving extortion, illicit police access and the unauthorised flow of state intelligence.

On Friday, 25 September, the commission dismissed Sindane’s application for a postponement, saying that his evidence would be heard on Monday, 28 September, “in whatever format” the commission determined.

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However, Sindane failed to appear before the commission on Monday. Evidence leader advocate Matthew Chaskalson, SC, told the commission Sindane had launched a second urgent application seeking to review and set aside Friday’s ruling.

“That second urgent application was dismissed with a punitive costs order on Monday morning by the [Gauteng] High Court,” Chaskalson revealed.

Sindane, Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni, and two others face charges of extortion and money laundering in the Kwaggafontein Magistrates’ Court in Mpumalanga.

Key players named at Madlanga Commission

Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni – Taxi boss accused of extortion. He said that in 2022 he messaged the police minister at the time, Bheki Cele, about violent taxi industry ructions. Three months after that, there was an attempt on Sibanyoni’s life.

Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala – Faces various accusations, including being a member of the Big Five cartel, and he has been charged with crimes including attempted murder. It is alleged he was involved in the 2022 attempted murder of Sibanyoni.

Jothan Msibi – A taxi boss who allegedly headed the Big Five cartel before his 2024 death. Sibanyoni claims Msibi was behind an earlier attempt on his life in 2006.

Oupa Jossiah Sindane – The taxi boss was summoned to testify before the Madlanga Commission regarding financial records, text messages, and alleged links to contract killers (izinkabi). He is an associate and co-accused of Sibanyoni in a multimillion-rand extortion and money-laundering case. 

‘Extortion racket’

Because Sindane did not physically take the stand, the commission formally read incriminating evidence against him into the public record.

Chaskalson said the evidence against Sindane in the extortion trial came from a police docket involving him and Sibanyoni, supported by WhatsApp chats recovered from Sindane’s cellphone.

He began with the statement of complainant Dr Tengane Ntuli, which forms part of the evidence in the trial.

“Essentially, what one sees in that statement is an allegation of an extortion racket enforced with threats of violence,” Chaskalson told the commission.

Ntuli was the director of a company, Tengane Mining, that obtained a mining right for a farm in Mkobola in Mpumalanga, on 15 December 2022. The operation was intended to supply aggregate stone to King Civil, Sanral’s main contractor on a section of the Moloto Road.

Ntuli approached King Civil to supply material and was referred to its community liaison officer, Makhaya Msiza, who allegedly referred him to Mvimbi Masilela, chairperson of the local business forum, who then referred him to Sibanyoni.

At a meeting at Waterkloof Golf Estate in Pretoria, Masilela allegedly introduced another man as “Mr Bafana Kabini”, whom Chaskalson said was linked to Sindane through cellphone evidence.

According to Ntuli, Sibanyoni demanded R100,000 in cash at the first meeting in July 2022. Ntuli said he paid it.

He further alleged that Sibanyoni and Sindane demanded 40% of his contract income. When he objected, he was allegedly instructed to pay R100,000 a month to a transport company linked to Sibanyoni — a payment Ntuli described as a “protection fee”.

Records before the commission show about R2.29-million was paid into the account.

WhatsApp messages appear to support Ntuli’s account. In one exchange, Ntuli explained why he had struggled to maintain the R100,000 payments, citing King Civil’s poor performance and reduced income.

Chaskalson said the chats also showed Sindane complaining when payments were missed and allegedly threatening to stop the operation. The messages came from a number associated with Sindane, but were signed “Landlord Growth Point”.

After Edwin Construction took over the Moloto Road contract, Ntuli alleged that Sibanyoni and Sindane increased the demand to R120,000 a month.

In a separate affidavit, Ntuli said that on 14 November 2025, Masilela, Sibanyoni and Sindane went to Edwin Construction and allegedly threatened to stop operations unless payments from Tengane Mining were made. Ntuli said Masilela later told him that all trucks would be stopped from operating on 17 November.

Security guards

Ntuli also alleged that, early in his dealings with King Civil, Sibanyoni imposed a security company on the operation after his own security guards were removed. He alleged that one guard was tied up and that the weighbridge cable was cut.

Further cellphone evidence included messages from a number Ntuli had saved as “Bafanas”. In March 2023, the number associated with Bafanas allegedly sent Ntuli a message seeking “positive feedback” regarding “Landlord Growthpoint”.

“The inference that we would draw in relation to what we have described as an apparent extortion racket is that these payments are being extracted on threat of violence,” said Chaskalson.

Chaskalson further argued that the cellphone evidence pointed to a relationship between Sindane and Sibanyoni and people involved in violent criminal activity.

Matlala links

The cellphone evidence also contained chats about organised crime accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and people allegedly linked to his drug-distribution network, Chaskalson told the commission.

He questioned why Sindane was receiving names, identity numbers and intelligence reports about Matlala’s associates in Atteridgeville and Pretoria West.

Chaskalson suggested two possible explanations: that people linked to Sibanyoni were seeking information on Matlala’s associates amid hostility between the two men, or that those interested in Matlala’s alleged drug network wanted to identify key players while he faced criminal charges, the cancellation of his contract and financial difficulties.

“We can’t see an innocent explanation,” said Chaskalson, adding that Sindane could explain the purpose of the information if he testified.

Chaskalson then pointed to another alleged flow of sensitive information to Sindane.

He said Sindane’s close associate Timothy Moyana sent Sindane an affidavit by Chris Steyn of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) concerning the Cat Security “blue-light” investigation.

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Steyn stated that three SAPS members had visited his office on 22 September 2025 to ask whether EMPD fleet management had fitted blue lights to vehicles linked to Cat Security.

“I indicated to them that we – fleet management – never fitted blue lights to these vehicles,” Steyn stated.

Chaskalson said the internal EMPD affidavit was signed on 25 September 2025 and Moyana had obtained and forwarded it to Sindane within two days.

The evidence raised a further question, Chaskalson said: how was an internal law-enforcement affidavit reaching Sindane so quickly after it was generated? DM