Taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni breaks silence on hitmen, taxi violence and cartel claims | Madlanga Commission

Taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni has testified at the Madlanga Commission on Friday.

Mpumalanga taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni has rejected suggestions that he is involved with alleged hitmen in the taxi industry, while acknowledging that “izinkabi” operate in some corners of the sector and can be linked to escalating violence.

Testifying before the Madlanga Commission on Friday, Sibanyoni sought to draw a clear line between himself and the criminal networks he said have become associated with parts of the taxi industry.

His evidence revisited his previous testimony and the findings surrounding taxi violence, including the 2019 Gauteng inquiry known as the Shongwe Commission.

Sibanyoni - out on bail with his co-accused in a Delmas case involving money laundering and extortion charges - introduced himself to the commission as an established businessman with interests in transport and property, saying he had built those ventures over more than 42 years through legitimate commercial activity.

“I am proud of the business career I have built. I have at all times endeavoured to conduct my affairs in accordance with the law,” he said.

He also placed his Christian faith at the centre of his testimony, referring to two assassination attempts against him as evidence of what he described as divine providence.

“I do not regard my survival of two assassination attempts as mere fortune. I regard it as providence,” Sibanyoni said.

But his evidence turned sharply to the darker side of the taxi industry when evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson SC questioned the role of “izinkabi”, or alleged hitmen.

Sibanyoni said payments for killings were not always made in cash. In some cases, he said, people could allegedly be rewarded with access to lucrative taxi routes.

“A practice that itself generates further violence. Hiring is done both by individual operators acting alone and by groups. Some of the money used to pay izinkabi is sourced from the bucket-money system,” he said.

However, Sibanyoni rejected the notion that knowledge of or involvement with izinkabi was universal among taxi associations.

“Some people, you'll find him being the boss of his izinkabi. Then you will find Christians within the associations that have no knowledge of izinkabi,” he said.