Before he was assassinated execution-style in 2022, DJ Sumbody survived, by the skin of his teeth, what he believed to have been the first attempt on his life shortly after his performance at the trendy Biblos Cafe in Katlehong in June 2021.
After this incident, DJ Sumbody beefed up his security and started leaving the premises of his nightclubs Ayepyep in Menlyn and Top Notch in Pretoria central business district via back doors without telling a soul.
DJ Sumbody, real name John Oupa Sefoka, together with his bodyguards Sibusiso Mokoena and Sandile Myeza were shot dead in a hail of bullets in Woodmead just after his performance at Woodmead News Cafe.
Speaking to Sunday World, the eyewitnesses, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said immediately after DJ Sumbody dropped the last track of his amapiano set at the popular Biblos Cafe on a Sunday night in 2021; his driver quietly exited the nightspot, which was then under renovations, at about 11pm.
He then cranked up the car – a white BMW 320i – ready to leave. They then hit the road to Secunda in Mpumalanga, where DJ Sumbody was to perform at the annual shindig of self-styled amapiano king, Kabza the Small, born Kabelo Motha.
According to eyewitnesses to the incident, a suspicious white VW Passat started tailing Sefoka and company, driving at the same speed and following them at each turn of the township heading to the main roads.
Alert to the potential danger, Sefoka’s driver slammed the accelerator to stage a quick getaway. “The trailing car also increased speed and kept a close distance,” said the source.
The headlights behind were not falling back. Both cars went through a red traffic light, signalling that an attack was no longer just paranoia but a real-life threat.
At the next traffic light before the N17 highway to Mpumalanga, which was also red when Sefoka’s vehicle whizzed across the intersection, a large coal truck that had the right of way blocked the road, preventing the Passat from following through. This time, Sefoka held a gun, ready to engage in a gun battle to save his life.
The incident happened a few months before the internationally renowned amapiano king DJ Maphorisa, Themba Sekowe, was attacked also after leaving Biblos Cafe. Hitmen opened fire at his luxury vehicle, leaving two people critically injured.
A source with knowledge of Sefoka’s security detail said it was the Katlehong incident that led to Mokoena coming on board as Sefoka’s bodyguard, recommended by murder-accused businessman Vusi “Cat” Matla-la, who is currently in prison after being charged alongside three others in connection with the alleged plot to kill his ex-lover, influencer Tebogo Thobejane.
“After the Katlehong incident, Oupa met Cat at Tashas in Menlyn and asked for provision of security. Cat suggested that Sbu was the right person for the bodyguard job because he also enjoyed nightlife. Plus, Sbu was no longer working for Cat at that time,” said the witness.
But his reinforcement of security could not serve as a bulwark for his life as he was ambushed nonetheless and killed in what has now emerged as an alleged dispute over an illicit drug deal.
The assassination happened on the corner of Woodmead and Woodland drives in Sandton, Johannesburg.
A month before, a driver of a blue VW Golf GTI similar to the one Sefoka owned was shot and killed while driving into Ayepyep Lifestyle, co-owned by Sefoka, in Sunnyside, Pretoria, raising suspicions that the real target was Sefoka.
The victim was identified as Aaron Matlala.
Sunday World understands that Sefoka was shaken after the incident.
On Wednesday, Katiso Molefe, the businessman and alleged mastermind behind Sefoka’s assassination, appeared for a formal bail application, opposed by the state, in the magistrate’s court in Alexandra, Johannesburg. The bail application was postponed to Thursday. Molefe and three alleged hitmen, Michael Pule Tau, Musa Kekana, and Tiego Floyd Mabusela, are charged with the murders of Sefoka, Mokoena, and Myeza.
The four men are facing charges of three counts of murder, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition in connection with the murders.
Tau, Kekana, Mabusela and Molefe have also been charged with the murder of Hector “DJ Vintos” Buthelezi.
The musician was shot and killed in a hail of bullets in March 2022 outside a nightclub in Orlando East, Soweto.
Sefoka family spokesperson Chad Thomas said they were aware of the Biblos incident. “At the time it was thought that it was an attempt to hijack them.” He said DJ Sefoka had a small entourage of management and a driver. “They were not employed as bodyguards, as the venues normally provided security.”
“We are appreciative of the progress made by the SAPS unit responsible for the arrest of suspects allegedly linked to the assassination of DJ Sumbody. We are also satisfied that the NPA is doing everything in its power to ensure a successful prosecution.”
