Taxi tycoon Joe Sibanyoni has been arrested, according to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo.
Masondo said in a statement that Sibanyoni was nabbed on Tuesday morning in Centurion. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
Masondo revealed that a mining boss in Mpumalanga opened a case of extortion against Sibanyoni, who was arrested in connection with it.
“There is a case of extortion that was opened in November 2025. Our members from organised crime have been investigating that case, which involved four suspects,” Masondo said.
He said there were four suspects implicated in the alleged extortion case.
“He [Sibanyoni] is one of the four suspects. The investigations were completed, and the suspects were arrested in the early hours of this morning [Tuesday].
“Two of them were arrested in Gauteng, including this prominent businessman. They were [allegedly] extorting money from a businessman who is in the mining industry in Kwaggafontein,” Masondo said.
The name of the influential taxi boss has repeatedly surfaced during the Madlanga commission and parliamentary ad hoc committee hearings into alleged organised crime networks.
According to one of the most scrutinised testimonies at the Madlanga commission recently, suspended police sergeant Fannie Nkosi conceded under pressure that he had visited Sibanyoni’s house 12 times between March 2024 and September 2025.
Nkosi was grilled after he initially suggested that he had met the taxi boss only once or twice before evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson confronted him with WhatsApp evidence indicating repeated contact.
“Why would you have told us yesterday that it was one or two times?” Chaskalson asked during the hearing recently.
Link with many influential figures
Nkosi denied saying that. “I did not say it was one or two. I said I can’t remember exactly how many times,” Nkosi responded, before conceding that he met Sibanyoni 12 times.
The exchange became one of the defining moments of the commission, highlighting the level of access allegedly enjoyed by Sibanyoni, with senior police officers repeatedly visiting his residence.
The commission further heard that Nkosi sent suspended City of Tshwane chief financial officer Gareth Mnisi a link to the launch of the Joe Sibanyoni Foundation, connecting Sibanyoni’s social initiatives to influential figures inside the capital city’s administration.
Sibanyoni was reportedly arrested by members of the special task force in Pretoria before being transported to Mpumalanga, where he is expected to face allegations linked to extortion.
The 60-year-old businessman has increasingly become a central figure in testimony linked to the alleged “Big Five” cartel—a network accused during commission proceedings of operating across extortion, taxi violence, tender fraud, and contract killings.
Sibanyoni’s growing notoriety intensified after he survived an attempted assassination outside the Centurion Golf Estate in August 2022.
Sibanyoni not convicted of any offence
Subsequent investigations linked a white BMW 335i to suspects allegedly associated with businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, another controversial figure whose name has been prominent throughout the commission hearings.
The Madlanga commission was established after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged that organised crime syndicates had infiltrated parts of law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
During testimony, witnesses and investigators painted a picture of overlapping relationships between taxi bosses, politicians, police officers, and alleged criminal syndicates.
The commission has heard allegations linking the so-called “Big Five” network to extortion, hijackings, drug trafficking, and politically connected organised crime operations.
Sibanyoni has not been convicted of any offence arising from the commission testimony, and many of the allegations remain untested in court.
This story has been updated.
- Taxi tycoon Joe Sibanyoni has been arrested in Mpumalanga.
- The reasons for his arrest have not yet been disclosed.
- Authorities have not provided further details at this time.
- The situation is ongoing and under investigation.
- More updates are expected as the story develops.
Taxi tycoon Joe
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He said there were four suspects implicated in the alleged extortion case.
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"Two of them were arrested in
“Why would you have told us yesterday that it was one or two times?” Chaskalson asked during the hearing recently.
Subsequent investigations linked a white BMW 335i to suspects allegedly associated with businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, another controversial figure whose name has been prominent throughout the commission hearings.
