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Inside the halted case against Joe Ferrari

By Sunday World
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Joe Sibanyoni case
Joe Sibanyoni (left) and co-accused have been granted bail.

In a complaint to the police, mining contractor Tengane Ntuli alleges that Mpumalanga taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni runs a network of businessmen and forum figures who extracted more than R2-million from him as “protection fees” over several years, linked to a quarry supplying material for the Moloto Road project.

The allegations are contained in sworn statements opened in Kwaggafontein and Middelburg in November last year, which Sunday World has seen, listing Sibanyoni, business forum chairperson Mvimbi Masilela, socialite Bafana “King of the Sky” Sindane (referred to in documents as Kabini) and others as suspects.

In their defence strategy, Sibanyoni’s camp has obtained police profile reports showing Ntuli was involved in at least 21 criminal complaints over the years – for fraud, extortion, intimidation, malicious damage to property, defamation and business disputes.

The SAPS records reflect at least five fraud-related complaints, three extortion or blackmail complaints and one bribery-related case linked to the businessman over roughly two decades.

Taken together, the pattern points to a growing concentration of disputes involving alleged financial, commercial and coercive conduct over time.

Their argument: Ntuli runs to the cops whenever a business deal collapses.

Police in Mpumalanga said yesterday, following questions sent on Thursday, that they were still collating information from the police stations mentioned on the status of the case numbers Sunday World shared.

NPA spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “The current case against the said accused has been considered by NPA and a finding was made to charge the accused.

Based on the risk to prejudice the state’s case, the NPA will not be commenting publicly on the merits of the case. The evidence will be presented at court.”

In a sworn affidavit, Ntuli said that in June and July 2025, while his company Tengane Mining was supplying stone for the R573 Moloto Road project, Masilela confronted him. Why, Masilela asked, had Ntuli “left them behind” in negotiations over the tonnage contract? Masilela then requested a Pretoria meeting to discuss taking “a portion” of every tonnage supplied, according to Ntuli.

Ntuli says he told Masilela to talk directly with Edwin Construction, the Sanral contractor. Tengane Mining supplied aggregate stone to Edwin Construction.

The matter escalated when Ntuli travelled to Lombardy Business Park in Pretoria after receiving WhatsApp messages from Masilela with a location pin.

Inside offices marked “Zadah Project”, Ntuli found Masilela sitting with four other men.

“I told Mvimbi Masilela that he had to speak directly to the owner of Edwin Construction,” Ntuli stated. Then came the threat: “He said they will go and close my company and chase me away from Kwaggafontein.”

In November 2025, Ntuli alleged, he received an invoice for R286 810.11, which Masilela insisted he must pay.

“He further said I have to pay the money, or otherwise he is going to send people to come and close my mine, and there must be no operations.”

Then Ntuli directly implicated Sibanyoni. “Three years back I was also paying an African man known to me as Joe Sibanyoni the amount of cash in the form of a transfer to his Absa bank account,” he alleged, claiming Sibanyoni called it a “protection fee”.

“This year, 2025, Joe Sibanyoni called me to his office, and he told me to increase the protection fee to an amount of R120 000. I pleaded with him that I can only afford R50 000 and the rest I will pay later.”

Ntuli alleges Sibanyoni, Masilela and Kabini are “working together”.

In a separate affidavit opened at Kwaggafontein police station, Ntuli alleged that meetings with Sibanyoni, Kabini, Masilela and others involved demands for payments “through a cartel process of extortion”.

WhatsApp messages and meetings continued between 2023 and 2025 demanding “protection fees” and other payments, he said. Some payments were allegedly made into MJ and Sons Transport’s accounts and through cash deposits. Ntuli warned police that disruptions to the quarry and road project affected “the national interest”.

Sibanyoni’s camp says Ntuli’s own police history destroys his credibility.

Police-generated reports list more than 20 criminal complaints linked to Ntuli stretching back decades: fraud complaints in Middelburg in 2016, 2017 and 2020; an extortion complaint in Bronkhorstspruit in 2019; intimidation cases in Mabopane in 2019 and again in 2024; malicious damage to property complaints in Mhluzi and Wonderboompoort; criminal defamation and court-order disputes.

A 2001 traffic matter in Cullinan ended with an acknowledgement-of-guilt fine. A 2022 Middelburg matter involved failure to comply with a court order. The records also contain a 2005 bribery case opened in Matsulu.

“There is always a case when there is a fallout,” a source close to Sibanyoni’s camp said. “He takes business disputes to the police.” Another source said the issue is not Ntuli’s right to open cases, but whether the sheer volume of disputes raises questions about his credibility and business conduct.

Ntuli is yet to respond to the allegations. For now, the matter hangs unresolved after the magistrate’s court on Monday struck the case off the roll.

The matter collapsed dramatically after prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba failed to appear in court for bail proceedings.

Chief magistrate Tuletu Tonjeni struck the matter from the roll and issued a warrant of arrest for the prosecutor, while the National Prosecuting Authority later confirmed Ntaba’s suspension pending disciplinary processes.

Advocate Shaun Abrahams, acting for Sibanyoni, told the media this week there had been a business relationship between his client and the complainant spanning several years.

“There was a business relationship that was in place between our client and the complainant in this matter,” Abrahams reportedly said.

He described the charges as “trumped-up” and said the defence intended pursuing a civil claim against the state.

The businessman allegedly denied the claims and insisted he had no business dealings with Sibanyoni.

“I am not his friend. We never did a business transaction together. This is pure extortion,” he told the media.

Meanwhile, police insiders told Sunday World that Tonjeni got it wrong when she mentioned in court that the investigating officer, whose name is known to the publication, was also absent in court on Monday.

 

 

  • Mining contractor Tengane Ntuli filed a police complaint against Mpumalanga taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni.
  • Ntuli alleges Sibanyoni leads a network of businessmen and forum figures demanding “protection fees.”
  • More than R2 million was allegedly extracted from Ntuli over several years.
  • The fees are linked to a quarry supplying materials for the Moloto Road project.
  • Full details are available in the Sunday World e-edition.
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In a complaint to the police, mining contractor Tengane Ntuli alleges that Mpumalanga taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni runs a network of businessmen and forum figures who extracted more than R2-million from him as “protection fees” over several years, linked to a quarry supplying material for the Moloto Road project.

The allegations are contained in sworn statements opened in Kwaggafontein and Middelburg in November last year, which Sunday World has seen, listing Sibanyoni, business forum chairperson Mvimbi Masilela, socialite Bafana “King of the Sky” Sindane (referred to in documents as Kabini) and others as suspects.

In their defence strategy, Sibanyoni’s camp has obtained police profile reports showing Ntuli was involved in at least 21 criminal complaints over the years – for fraud, extortion, intimidation, malicious damage to property, defamation and business disputes.

The SAPS records reflect at least five fraud-related complaints, three extortion or blackmail complaints and one bribery-related case linked to the businessman over roughly two decades.

Taken together, the pattern points to a growing concentration of disputes involving alleged financial, commercial and coercive conduct over time.

Their argument: Ntuli runs to the cops whenever a business deal collapses.

Police in Mpumalanga said yesterday, following questions sent on Thursday, that they were still collating information from the police stations mentioned on the status of the case numbers Sunday World shared.

NPA spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “The current case against the said accused has been considered by NPA and a finding was made to charge the accused.

Based on the risk to prejudice the state’s case, the NPA will not be commenting publicly on the merits of the case. The evidence will be presented at court.”

In a sworn affidavit, Ntuli said that in June and July 2025, while his company Tengane Mining was supplying stone for the R573 Moloto Road project, Masilela confronted him. Why, Masilela asked, had Ntuli “left them behind” in negotiations over the tonnage contract? Masilela then requested a Pretoria meeting to discuss taking “a portion” of every tonnage supplied, according to Ntuli.

Ntuli says he told Masilela to talk directly with Edwin Construction, the Sanral contractor. Tengane Mining supplied aggregate stone to Edwin Construction.

The matter escalated when Ntuli travelled to Lombardy Business Park in Pretoria after receiving WhatsApp messages from Masilela with a location pin.

Inside offices marked “Zadah Project”, Ntuli found Masilela sitting with four other men.

“I told Mvimbi Masilela that he had to speak directly to the owner of Edwin Construction,” Ntuli stated. Then came the threat: “He said they will go and close my company and chase me away from Kwaggafontein.”

In November 2025, Ntuli alleged, he received an invoice for R286 810.11, which Masilela insisted he must pay.

“He further said I have to pay the money, or otherwise he is going to send people to come and close my mine, and there must be no operations.”

Then Ntuli directly implicated Sibanyoni. “Three years back I was also paying an African man known to me as Joe Sibanyoni the amount of cash in the form of a transfer to his Absa bank account,” he alleged, claiming Sibanyoni called it a “protection fee”.

“This year, 2025, Joe Sibanyoni called me to his office, and he told me to increase the protection fee to an amount of R120 000. I pleaded with him that I can only afford R50 000 and the rest I will pay later.”

Ntuli alleges Sibanyoni, Masilela and Kabini are “working together”.

In a separate affidavit opened at Kwaggafontein police station, Ntuli alleged that meetings with Sibanyoni, Kabini, Masilela and others involved demands for payments “through a cartel process of extortion”.

WhatsApp messages and meetings continued between 2023 and 2025 demanding “protection fees” and other payments, he said. Some payments were allegedly made into MJ and Sons Transport’s accounts and through cash deposits. Ntuli warned police that disruptions to the quarry and road project affected “the national interest”.

Sibanyoni’s camp says Ntuli’s own police history destroys his credibility.

Police-generated reports list more than 20 criminal complaints linked to Ntuli stretching back decades: fraud complaints in Middelburg in 2016, 2017 and 2020; an extortion complaint in Bronkhorstspruit in 2019; intimidation cases in Mabopane in 2019 and again in 2024; malicious damage to property complaints in Mhluzi and Wonderboompoort; criminal defamation and court-order disputes.

A 2001 traffic matter in Cullinan ended with an acknowledgement-of-guilt fine. A 2022 Middelburg matter involved failure to comply with a court order. The records also contain a 2005 bribery case opened in Matsulu.

“There is always a case when there is a fallout,” a source close to Sibanyoni’s camp said. “He takes business disputes to the police.” Another source said the issue is not Ntuli’s right to open cases, but whether the sheer volume of disputes raises questions about his credibility and business conduct.

Ntuli is yet to respond to the allegations. For now, the matter hangs unresolved after the magistrate’s court on Monday struck the case off the roll.

The matter collapsed dramatically after prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba failed to appear in court for bail proceedings.

Chief magistrate Tuletu Tonjeni struck the matter from the roll and issued a warrant of arrest for the prosecutor, while the National Prosecuting Authority later confirmed Ntaba’s suspension pending disciplinary processes.

Advocate Shaun Abrahams, acting for Sibanyoni, told the media this week there had been a business relationship between his client and the complainant spanning several years.

“There was a business relationship that was in place between our client and the complainant in this matter,” Abrahams reportedly said.

He described the charges as “trumped-up” and said the defence intended pursuing a civil claim against the state.

The businessman allegedly denied the claims and insisted he had no business dealings with Sibanyoni.

“I am not his friend. We never did a business transaction together. This is pure extortion,” he told the media.

Meanwhile, police insiders told Sunday World that Tonjeni got it wrong when she mentioned in court that the investigating officer, whose name is known to the publication, was also absent in court on Monday.