BREAKING NEWS: Joe 'Ferrari' Sibanyoni, co-accused ask High Court in Mbombela to halt re-enrolment of extortion case

Mbombela, Mpumalanga – Mpumalanga taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni and his co-accused Oupa Johannes “Bafana” Sindane have filed an urgent application in the High Court in Mbombela to stop the re-enrolment of their extortion and money laundering case.

The pair, along with Mvimbi Masilela and Philemon Msiza, face charges of extorting more than R2.2 million in “protection fees” from a Mpumalanga businessman between 2022 and 2025. The matter was struck off the roll at the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court last month after prosecutor Adv. Mkhuseli Ntaba failed to appear. The National Prosecuting Authority announced this week that the case would be re-enrolled and set down for Thursday at the Delmas Magistrate’s Court.

In court papers seen by local media, Sibanyoni and Sindane want the court to interdict the police from executing J50 warrants of arrest against them. They argue they will suffer “irreparable harm” if arrested, citing unlawful deprivation of liberty, reputational damage and the undermining of their constitutional rights. 

The applicants also contend the alleged offences fall under the jurisdiction of the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court, not Delmas, and that the Delmas magistrate had no authority to issue arrest warrants for offences committed in the Thembisile Hani sub-district. 

“The immediacy of the threatened arrest necessitates the intervention of this honourable court on an urgent basis,” the application states. The NPA said it had not yet been served with the interdict papers and maintains the accused should appear in Delmas. The matter is set to be heard in the Mbombela High Court. 

Sibanyoni, through his lawyer Shaun Abrahams, has previously described the charges as “trumped-up” and said he intends to pursue a defamation case against the complainant. The accused were expected to hand themselves over at Delmas police station and appear in court this morning.