A high-profile organised crime case in Mpumalanga collapsed on Monday after the state prosecutor assigned to the matter failed to arrive, prompting the magistrate to strike the case from the roll, find him in contempt, and authorise a warrant for his arrest.

The case against Sibanyoni and his co-accused, Mvimbi Daniel Masilela, Philemon Makhaya Msiza, and Oupa Josiah “Bafana” Sindane, was struck from the roll in the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court during what was meant to be the continuation of bail proceedings.

Chief Magistrate Tuletu Tonjeni found state prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba in contempt of court after he failed to appear. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has since suspended Ntaba pending disciplinary proceedings.

By yesterday morning, the NPA said it had still not been able to reach or locate him. The NPA has also said it is considering steps to have the matter re-enrolled, meaning the case could be placed back before a court.

According to the charge sheet, Sibanyoni and his co-accused are accused of forcing a Mpumalanga businessman to pay more than R2.2 million in protection money between 2022 and 2025. The state alleges that the complainant was threatened and made to pay money to prevent his business operations from being shut down by force.

Sibanyoni is known as “Ferrari” due to his public image as a wealthy taxi boss with a taste for luxury cars.

He is reported to have built a transport empire in Mpumalanga, spanning taxis, buses, and logistics. He controls a large taxi fleet, more than 300 by some estimates, in the province and has held leadership roles in taxi industry structures, including the business wing of the South African National Taxi Council and local and long-distance taxi and bus organisations.

Sibanyoni presents himself as a businessman and philanthropist. The Joe Sibanyoni Foundation says it focuses on infrastructure development, enterprise development, empowerment, education, and human dignity. The foundation describes itself as being guided by Sibanyoni’s legacy and says it is aimed at uplifting marginalised communities and supporting black-owned businesses.

That public self-image now sits alongside a very different set of allegations. Investigators have placed him at the centre of an extortion and money-laundering case, while previous public allegations have linked him to questions around taxi violence, underworld networks, and politically connected business interests.

Sibanyoni has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, former National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams, has indicated that the allegations will be challenged.

Abrahams is himself a controversial figure. He served as National Director of Public Prosecutions during Jacob Zuma’s presidency, a period in which the NPA was repeatedly accused of being drawn into factional political battles. In 2016, he authorised fraud charges against then-finance minister Pravin Gordhan and former South African Revenue Service (SARS) officials Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashula, only to withdraw them weeks later after the NPA conceded it did not have reason to believe they had acted unlawfully. His own appointment as prosecutions boss was later declared constitutionally invalid by the Constitutional Court.

The second high-profile accused is Oupa Josiah “Bafana” Sindane, who is a KwaMhlanga-based businessman with a public profile built around wealth, luxury vehicles, as well as flamboyant displays of success and influence in the taxi industry. KwaMhlanga is in western Mpumalanga, north-east of Pretoria and close to the Gauteng border.

Less is known about Masilela and Msiza than about Sibanyoni and Sindane. They appeared alongside Sibanyoni from the first court appearance and are accused in the same matter. The attorney for the pair argued that, if the state could not proceed, the bail matter should be treated in a way favourable to the accused.

An extortion investigation into the accused began in November 2025. The complaint was first opened at the Kwaggafontein Police Station and then escalated to the Mpumalanga Organised Crime Unit.

Sibanyoni, Masilela, and Msiza were arrested last week Tuesday and appeared in the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court the next day. Sindane was later identified as the fourth suspect and surrendered to police.

At their first appearance last week, the state said it had a strong case and intended to oppose bail because the charges were serious.

The matter was postponed for bail proceedings, but was derailed when Ntaba did not appear in court on Monday despite being ordered to do so.

Ntaba had reportedly informed the court on Friday that he would not be available on Monday and asked for another date. The magistrate rejected that request and instructed him to be in court at 09:00 on Monday.

By 13:00, Ntaba had still not arrived.

Abrahams then applied for the matter to be struck from the roll and for Ntaba to be found in contempt. Lawyers for the other accused joined the application. Tonjeni ruled in their favour.

The court’s decision produced an extraordinary result. Four accused men in a major extortion and money-laundering case walked free from that round of proceedings, while the prosecutor who had been meant to lead the state’s case became the subject of a warrant of arrest.

There is no public proof at this stage that Ntaba was threatened or intimidated. That possibility has been raised because of the nature of the case, the profile of the accused, and the fact that the prosecutor could not be located by the NPA. But the NPA has said it cannot speculate because no explanation has yet been provided.

Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has welcomed the swift suspension of Ntaba and warned that failures of this kind damage public confidence in the justice system.

That is putting it mildly.

Ntaba was not a confused witness or a member of the public who missed a court date. He was the state prosecutor in a serious extortion and money-laundering case. He had been instructed by the court to be present, and then failed to arrive. For an officer of the court, whose job is to uphold the law, that is not a small administrative lapse.

It leaves the public with two grim possibilities. Either a state prosecutor showed contempt, not only for the court’s timetable, but for the court itself, or something more serious may have happened behind the scenes to explain why he disappeared from a case involving alleged extortion, protection money, and powerful taxi industry figures.

That darker possibility cannot simply be dismissed. South Africa has already seen legal professionals and people tied to court processes targeted in matters involving money, corruption, organised crime, and high-stakes disputes. In 2023, court-appointed liquidator Cloete Murray and his son Thomas Murray, a legal adviser, were assassinated in Midrand while Cloete was working on complex insolvency matters linked to corruption and state capture. Freedom Under Law, a public interest legal organisation that defends the rule of law and judicial independence, described the killings as a fundamental threat to the rule of law and constitutional democracy.

In 2024, SARS advocate Coreth Naudé survived an assassination attempt while working on a tax matter. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) described the attack as an assault on the rule of law and an attempt to intimidate those who uphold it.

In March 2026, attorney Chinette Gallichan, a legal practitioner attached to Sibanye-Stillwater’s legal team, was shot dead near the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) offices in central Johannesburg. She had reportedly been involved in a labour dispute on behalf of the company.

None of this proves foul play in Ntaba’s case. But it does mean South Africans are not being hysterical if they wonder whether a prosecutor’s disappearance from a major extortion case is about more than incompetence.