Illustrative image: Slain activist Loyiso Nkohla. (Photo: Gallo Images / Nasief Manie) | Ralph Stanfield. (Photo: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais) | Disused Prasa train tracks in Philippi, Cape Town. (Photo: Brenton Geach)A few years ago, activist and former politician Loyiso Nkohla was approached to help find a solution to moving residents living illegally on train tracks in Cape Town’s Philippi.
This involved the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the need to move the residents.
Nkohla’s involvement in this process – representing the residents – ultimately led to his assassination.
He was fatally shot and three others were wounded during a community meeting near the Philippi train station on 17 April 2023.
Fast-forward to this week – Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
Three decades in jail
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Western Cape announced that Zukisa Tshabile, a gunman who admitted to being paid R20,000 to pull the trigger on Nkohla, was jailed.
His charges led to a sentence that totalled 149 years.
The sentences, however, will run concurrently, meaning he is set to spend an effective 30 years behind bars.
Multiple crimes — from murder to pizza place robbery
Zukisa Tshabile, a gunman who admitted to his role in the April 2023 murder of activist Loyiso Nkhohla and the wounding of three others, was involved in other crimes. Aside from the shooting in Philippi, Cape Town, Tshabile also faced charges for an armed robbery a couple of months later at a pizza place in Kraaifontein, in early July 2023. Tshabile admitted that he was among a group that stormed the establishment, pointed firearms at two people, threatened to kill them, and stole R15,000 cash, alcohol, and two cellphones. A person was shot during the incident. A police sergeant was also shot in the stomach, but his bulletproof vest saved him from injury.
Tshabile entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State, and this provides some context into what led to Nkohla’s assassination.
The agreement reveals a recurring problem – the role of private security in criminal activity.
It also points to another saga that involves an alleged gang boss currently on trial for various crimes.
‘Didn’t pay security staff’
Tshabile’s plea agreement described how Nkohla was previously approached to act as “a social facilitator” between Prasa and the Philippi residents facing eviction because they were living illegally on train tracks.
“During this period, Mzansi Fire, a security company that contracted for Prasa, was looking for a local security company to secure the Philippi Railway Station,” Tshabile’s plea read.
/file/attachments/orphans/28s-loyiso-caryn1_106558.jpeg "The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed a 30-year prison sentence handed to one of the gunmen Zukisa Tshabile involved in the assassination of former political leader and community activist Loyiso Nkohla. (Photo: NPA)")
This opportunity was offered to Nkohla and his wife, Nyameka Mabandla.
Tshabile’s plea explained that because the couple did not have a registered security company at the time, “they approached Thobani Maxengana, who operated a security company known as Limise Protection Services”.
The couple entered into a business partnership with Maxengana, but things did not go smoothly.
/file/attachments/orphans/28s-loyiso-caryn2_790429.jpg "Loyiso Nkohla. ( Photo: Gallo images/ Brenton Geach)")
“I admit that the partnership encountered difficulties arising from the non-payment of security personnel employed on the project at Philippi Railway Station,” Tshabile’s plea agreement said.
“Despite receiving payment from Mzansi, Thobani Maxengana failed and/or refused to pay approximately 17 security workers for their services.”
Daily Maverick this week queried whether “Mzansi Fire” (which he also called “Mzansi”) in Tshabile’s plea was actually a reference to a company, Mzansi SecuriFire – the NPA confirmed that it was.
Stanfield and The Firm factor
Red flags around security matters and Prasa have previously cropped up.
An example is an AmaBhungane exposé from earlier this year.
It said evidence suggested that Prasa’s security chief, Alexio Papadopulo, gave alleged 28s and The Firm gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his businesswoman wife Nicole Johnson access to contracts that Prasa awarded to a KwaZulu-Natal-based security company, Mzansi SecuriFire.
That is the same company name Tshabile referred to in his plea agreement this week, saying it had looked for a local security firm to secure the Philippi train station, which led to Nkohla partnering with Maxengana, who already had a security business.
In terms of the AmaBhungane report, it later emerged that Papadopulo denied wrongdoing.
Mzansi’s lawyer had declined to provide comment to AmaBhungane at the time of its exposé, saying the matter was sub judice.
Besides the company name Mzansi SecuriFire (or Mzansi) surfacing in the Stanfield-Johnson report and the Nkohla murder case, both involve security work connected to Prasa and the relocation of residents living on train tracks.
/file/attachments/orphans/28s-loyiso-caryn4_978491.jpg "Ralph Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson at the Cape Town Regional Court on 16 September 2023. He and his co-accused are on trial on about 111 charges related to the illegal acquisition of firearm licences. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)")
Pointing this out is not to suggest criminality, but rather to highlight some similarities between the two sagas.
According to the AmaBhungane exposé: “Our evidence shows the Stanfield-Johnson enterprise was able to capture significant subcontracts via Mzansi, although the full extent of their companies’ participation remains unclear.”
It said that between November 2022 and May 2024, “Mzansi received approximately R600-million worth of Central Line contracts.”
Security services and gang concerns
The Central Line is a critical rail conduit in Cape Town connecting suburbs including Langa, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha to the city centre.
The Philippi train station, near where Nkohla was murdered, is also on the line.
Daily Maverick has reported that the Central Line closed in November 2019 after continuous vandalism and infrastructure theft.
Billions of rands were earmarked for its reconstruction and it has since reopened.
Back in 2022, though, suspicions surfaced that gangsters aligned with the 28s were angry with Prasa over the awarding of security contracts or the allocation of jobs in the security sector, and used intimidation and extortion to get what they wanted.
The AmaBhungane exposé from earlier in 2026 referenced security, saying the Mzansi contracts “involved removing vegetation and rubble from train tracks, rehabilitating service roads, relocating families living on the tracks, and providing security services to protect terrified contractors working on the railway.”
Gangsters in Bonteheuwel (Netreg station in the video) have been demanding "protection fees" from Prasa's subcontractors who are working to restore service to the Central Line. https://t.co/V7lFU34uCq
— Quinton Mtyala (@mtyala) August 31, 2022
In August this year, a Prasa presentation to Parliament said that an investigation into the saga found, among other matters, “no evidence that Prasa entered into any direct contractual relationship with organised crime figures or entities they directly own.”
A few days later, AmaBhungane reported on a police officer’s affidavit, saying the document bolstered its allegations.
Stanfield and Johnson are now among a group on trial in the Western Cape high court for various crimes (unrelated to Prasa issues).
In Stanfield’s case, the charges include murder.
They have pleaded not guilty.
R20,000 and ‘both had to be killed’
Back to Tshabile’s plea agreement detailing the run-up to Nkohla’s murder.
Quick recap: the plea agreement focused on Maxengana, who Nkohla and Mabandla joined in business because he had the security company, and Mzansi needed a local firm to secure the Philippi train station.
Tshabile’s plea said that despite Maxengana receiving money from Mzansi, he did not pay about 17 security workers.
This, Tshabile said, disappointed Nkohla because he had included Maxengana in the Philippi rail plans and Nkohla felt responsible for the non-payment of the workers, who were from the area.
Nkohla apparently decided to pay them himself and obtained half the shares in a new security company that would replace that of Maxengana.
According to Tshabile, Nkohla subsequently “decided to convene a meeting with the community members of Philippi, for 17 April 2023 at the Philippi Railway Station, to inform them of the non-payment of the workers and to discuss the way forward”.
/file/attachments/orphans/28s-loyiso-caryn5_600727.jpg "Mzubanzi Luyanda Chulayo also known as Maya or Sgwili. (Photo: SAPS)")
In the meantime, Maxengana had approached two other men – Mziyanda Mdlungu and Mzubanzi Chulayo – who became co-accused in the case for which Tshabile has now been sentenced.
Tshabile said Mxengane told the pair he had “a problem” with Nkohla and his wife “and that both had to be killed at this meeting at the Philippi Railway Station”.
“I admit that Thobani Maxengana offered to pay each of the perpetrators an amount of R20,000.00 for the killing of Nyameka Mabandla and [Nkohla],” Tshabile’s plea agreement said.
‘Loyiso tried to run’
Armed with a 9mm Parabellum and a semi-automatic pistol, Tshabile, allegedly along with Chulayo and two others, went to the Phillippi station area on 17 April 2023 for Nkohla’s community meeting that roughly 20 people had attended.
Tshabile said that at that stage, he had not realised Nkohla had persuaded Mabandla not to attend.
Former Seskhona People’s Movement leader Loyiso Nkohla has been fatally shot inside the yard of Philippi/Browns Farm mobile police station. Thembinkosi Phupha, a former ANC councillor was wounded during the shooting https://t.co/PrRbIbGfxf
— Veve (@LudidiVelani) April 17, 2023
“The moment when we identified Loyiso, [...] Chulayo, the two known persons, and I commenced shooting,” Tshabile’s plea agreement stated.
“I admit that Loyiso attempted to escape by running away from us, but in doing so, he ran towards and amongst the other people who were gathered at the meeting…
“Despite [his] attempt to escape, the shooting continued and [he] was repeatedly shot.”
Nkohla was killed while three others were wounded.
A heart attack and an ongoing case
Tshabile’s plea agreement added: “I admit Thobani Maxengana paid R20,000 into the bank account of my sister […] as a reward [to me] for the killing”.
Daily Maverick has reported that Maxengana was found dead in the holding cells of the East London Magistrates’ Court ahead of an appearance there in November 2023.
At the time, the Hawks, who had not identified him by name, said he died of a heart attack and that no foul play was suspected.
As for Tshabile, while he was sentenced this week, his two co-accused – Mdlungu and Chulayo – still face legal proceedings.
They appeared in the Wynberg, Cape Town, Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 11 November.
Tshabile’s plea and sentencing may strengthen the State’s case against them. DM
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