Mpumalanga taxi-boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni has told the Madlanga commission that the attacks on entertainer DJ Vettys and the murder of DJ Sumbody were linked to their proximity to him and formed part of a broader pattern of violence by the same criminal network he says targeted him.
Testifying before the commission on Friday, Sibanyoni said both men were known to him through social and entertainment circles and were not connected to him through any significant business dealings.
He said DJ Vettys, whose real name is Seunkie Mokubung, had been part of his broader social network for years.
Entertainers targeted because of ties to him
“The attempted life of DJ Vettys and the killing of Oupa John Sefoka, it was a matter of people that are close to me, irrespective of whether they’re in the taxi industry or socialising together,” Sibanyoni told the commission.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi asked Sibanyoni whether he was suggesting the pair had been targeted because of their association with him.
“Correct,” Sibanyoni responded.
Relationship with DJ Sumbody
Sibanyoni said he first came to know the late DJ Sumbody, whose real name was Oupa John Sefoka, through Sumbody’s father, who was involved in the taxi industry.
However, he stressed that their relationship was largely social and developed through shared attendance at entertainment events and functions.
“I came to know him even deeper through the entertainment and social scene. He moved in broadly similar social circles and we met at various events and functions in that environment,” Sibanyoni said.
He rejected any suggestion that the two had substantial business dealings.
“I knew him as a highly successful entertainer. Our relationship was one of social familiarity. We had no personal dealings of any material kind.”
Ballistic evidence connects shootings
A central part of Sibanyoni’s testimony focused on what he described as a ballistic link between the attempted assassination on his life in August 2022 and DJ Sumbody’s killing three months later.
According to Sibanyoni, investigations later established that firearms used in the attack on him were connected through ballistic evidence to those used in Sumbody’s murder in November 2022.
“As I have come to now understand, the weapons used in the assassination attempt on my life, in August 2022, were subsequently linked by ballistic evidence to the murder of the late DJ Sumbody in November 2022,” he said.
Sibanyoni said the significance of this connection was not to imply any criminal relationship between himself and Sumbody, but rather to show that the same criminal network appeared to have targeted people within his wider social orbit.
“As I understand, we were linked not by any criminal association, but by the weapons of the same criminal network.”
‘We were targets, not associates’
Sibanyoni also referred to the attempted killing of DJ Vettys as further evidence supporting his claim that individuals around him had become targets of the same group.
He argued that the attacks on people known to him undermined any suggestion that he himself was targeted because he was affiliated with the criminal network.
“His status as a co-victim of the same criminal network as the one that shot me confirms, in the very least, that the violence of that network was not directed at me as an associate or a member. It was directed at us as targets,” Sibanyoni said.
He told the commission that the attacks were significant because they demonstrated that people in his broader social circle could become victims regardless of whether they were involved in the taxi industry, the entertainment sector or were simply associated with him socially.
The Madlanga commission continues to hear evidence relating to allegations of criminal activity and violence linked to the taxi industry and associated networks.
- Mpumalanga businessman Joe Sibanyoni, aka "Ferrari," testified that attacks on DJ Vettys and the murder of DJ Sumbody were linked to their proximity to him and part of a broader pattern of violence by the same criminal network targeting him.
- Sibanyoni stated that he knew both DJs socially and through entertainment circles but had no significant business dealings with them.
- Ballistic evidence connected firearms used in the August 2022 assassination attempt on Sibanyoni to the November 2022 murder of DJ Sumbody.
- Sibanyoni emphasized that he and the entertainers were targets of the criminal network, not associates or members of it.
- The Madlanga commission is continuing to hear evidence about criminal activity and violence linked to the taxi industry and related networks.
