{"id":159554,"date":"2026-03-29T05:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/159554\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T05:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:17:34","slug":"assassination-plot-exposes-big-five-cartel-succession-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/159554\/","title":{"rendered":"assassination plot exposes \u2018Big Five cartel\u2019 succession battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

A police investigation has blown open a violent power struggle in Gauteng\u2019s taxi underworld, revealing that Vusimusi \u201cCat\u201d Matlala\u2019s alleged attempted assassination of Joe \u201cFerrari\u201d Sibanyoni was linked to the so-called Big Five cartel<\/a> \u2014 an alleged criminal empire with reach across South Africa.<\/p>\n

While the case has yet to be ventilated in court, the Sunday Times can exclusively reveal that Matlala\u2019s alleged August 2022 attempt on Sibanyoni\u2019s life was part of a deadly succession battle inside the cartel. <\/p>\n

Last November, a police investigator told the Madlanga commission the cartel is a Gauteng\u2011based criminal network with deep links to politicians and law enforcement. <\/a><\/p>\n

The group is allegedly involved in drug trafficking, tender fraud, kidnappings, extortion, contract killings and cross\u2011border vehicle hijackings. <\/p>\n

Several witnesses have told the Madlanga commission that other members of the alleged cartel included the late taxi boss Jotham \u201cMswazi\u201d Msibi, Sibanyoni, a shadowy businessman known as Steve Motsumi, Matlala and Katiso \u201cKT\u201d Molefe. <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni, who is now president of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), revealed in his statement that there had been previous attempts on his life, which he also blamed on his rival, Msibi. <\/p>\n

Describing Msibi, a police witness told the Madlanga commission that the taxi overlord, who died in hospital in 2024 following a short illness, was the president of \u201cThe Firm\u201d, an alleged umbrella organisation for the Big Five cartel. <\/p>\n

At the centre of the alleged murder plot lies Sibanyoni\u2019s spectacular fallout with Msibi, who was his former mentor and the influential taxi \u201cgodfather\u201d touted as being the architect of the modern South African taxi industry. <\/p>\n

According to Sibanyoni\u2019s police statement, tensions erupted when Msibi reneged on a long-standing verbal agreement to vacate the presidency of the South African Local and Long Distance Taxi and Bus Organisation (SALLDTBO) and make way for him. His refusal set off the campaign to remove him violently. <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni\u2019s statement also offers a rare glimpse into the succession politics that shape the taxi industry, exposing how leadership contests in powerful organisations like SALLDTBO often spill into bloodshed. <\/p>\n

Police trace car through multiple owners after it was repaired, resprayed and disguised ( Nolo Moima) <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni, who is now president of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), revealed in his statement that there had been previous attempts on his life, which he also blamed on his rival, Msibi. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe became aware that I was avoiding him and confronted me about it \u2026 I also reminded him that he sent people to kill me back in 2007. I was shot and injured, and I survived. He became angry and told me to take my taxis out of the rank,\u201d Sibanyoni told the police. <\/p>\n

A police investigation has revealed how Matlala\u2019s co-accused allegedly carried out the audacious assassination attempt on Sibanyoni on the night of August 10 2022 outside the Centurion Golf Estate. <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni, who was shot twice in the stomach, has told police he had worked with Msibi since 1997, and when Msibi became president of SALLDTBO, he became his second-in-command. He said they had an agreement that Msibi would retire when he turned 60, but Msibi changed his mind in 2019 when he was approaching retirement age. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did not argue with him on that [Msibi not vacating his position] since it was a verbal agreement from the onset. But I could tell that he was up to something not good \u2026 At this time he started recalling duties that were ordinarily mine as his second-in-charge. In about the same period, Covid-19 came about. This gave me a chance to distance myself from Mswazi. By now I was already aware that my life could be in danger.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni told police that following this fallout, Msibi began arming himself by securing the protection services of Cat Security Services, owned by Matlala<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cMswazi started beefing up his security, surrounding himself with gunmen, so-called izinkabi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vusi Matlala also became a regular on this farm. Mswazi started grooming Vusi Matlala, telling him that his only threat was me, and that if he killed me he would take after him in terms of being a leader of the taxi business that Mswazi was a boss of.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Sibanyoni<\/p>\n

Among the people Msibi sourced were Matlala and Katiso Molefe. In 2021 and 2022 Katiso Molefe moved full-time to manage his operations (drugs) from a farm owned by Mswazi in Hammanskraal, Pretoria, Sibanyoni said. <\/p>\n

\u201cVusi Matlala also became a regular on this farm. Mswazi started grooming Vusi Matlala, telling him that his only threat was me, and that if he killed me he would take after him in terms of being a leader of the taxi business that Mswazi was a boss of.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Sunday Times has established that the police investigation uncovered how Matlala\u2019s co-accused in the attempted murder of Sibanyoni, Musa Kekana and Danny Tiego Floyd Mabusela tracked and tailed Sibanyoni on the night of August 10 2022. <\/p>\n

Sibanyoni, who had just bought himself a red Ferrari, was celebrating with his friends over dinner at the upmarket Ukko restaurant in the Nicolway shopping centre in Bryanston when Mabusela and Kekana arrived from Midrand. <\/p>\n

The police, by triangulating the cellphones of Mabusela and Kekana, managed to track down their movements from the restaurant to Centurion Golf Estate, where Sibanyoni lives. <\/p>\n

The two gunmen \u2014 allegedly Mabusela and Kekana, who are also co-accused in the murder of musician DJ Sumbody \u2014 converged at Nicolway in the early evening and left the area at around 10.25pm when Sibanyoni left the Ukko restaurant. They proceeded to the N1 to Centurion. <\/p>\n

Mabusela is alleged to have been driving a white BMW 335i, which he had fitted with fake plates, in pursuit of Sibanyoni, who was driving a Ferrari accompanied by another driver in a VW Golf 7. <\/p>\n

Their movements were caught on the N1 toll gantries. On arrival at the estate, Sibanyoni and two of his friends stood outside chatting.<\/p>\n

\u201cA white BMW 3 series arrived and drove through the car park before pulling up in front of the victims [Sibanyoni and friends] and opening fire on them. The shooting appears to have come from the front window of the vehicle,\u201d police said in their investigation. <\/p>\n

He asked me if I was home, and I told him that I was not. He then said he wanted to park a car at my place. Since he usually comes and parks his cars, I gave him the go ahead<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Ledile Papo, Matlala\u2019s ex-girlfriend<\/p>\n

The shooting was captured on the estate\u2019s CCTV footage, which was handed over to police. The CCTV timestamp showed the shooting happened at 10.48pm and that Sibanyoni\u2019s life was saved by the estate\u2019s security guards, who fired back at the gunmen. <\/p>\n

According to ballistics experts, the security guard shot the BMW at least six times before it sped off to the N1 South highway and later disappeared in the upmarket Waterfall suburb. <\/p>\n

The Sunday Times understands that police have obtained a statement from Matlala\u2019s ex-girlfriend, Ledile Papo, who told them she had received a call from him that night, asking if a vehicle could be parked in her garage. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked me if I was home, and I told him that I was not. He then said he wanted to park a car at my place. Since he usually comes and parks his cars, I gave him the go ahead,\u201d Papo said. <\/p>\n

She also told police that her domestic worker said two \u201cAfrican males\u201d had arrived that night and parked a white BMW inside the garage. <\/p>\n

Papo told the police that on her return from Limpopo, she saw the white BMW, which she assumed was one of Matlala\u2019s vehicles. The vehicle was later picked up by an African male. <\/p>\n

Matlala; his wife Tsakane Matlala; Kekana; Mabusela; and Mabusela\u2019s daughter Zandile Nthabiseng Nzama, face 25 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder, arising from three separate shooting incidents between August 2022 and January 2024. <\/p>\n

The state further alleges that the accused were involved in orchestrating a shooting, subsequently laundering money linked to the alleged plot, and utilising a fraudulent invoice to conceal the source of the funds and mislead the court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police investigation has blown open a violent power struggle in Gauteng\u2019s taxi underworld, revealing that Vusimusi \u201cCat\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[16477,2053,83922,83923,83925,83942,83940,83941,83928,2311,83927,83937,83921,83935,83931,83924,83919,131,83934,83933,83920,83938,83936,83926,83930,83929,83932,83939],"class_list":{"0":"post-159554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-big-five-cartel","9":"tag-cat-matlala","10":"tag-centurion-golf-estate-shooting","11":"tag-contract-killings-gauteng","12":"tag-contract-killings-south-africa","13":"tag-gauteng-taxi-cartel","14":"tag-gauteng-taxi-wars","15":"tag-joe-ferrari-sibanyoni","16":"tag-jotham-mswazi-msibi","17":"tag-madlanga-commission","18":"tag-madlanga-commission-cartel","19":"tag-madlanga-commission-taxi-inquiry","20":"tag-msibi-taxi-boss","21":"tag-msibi-taxi-boss-death","22":"tag-salldtbo-leadership-battle","23":"tag-santaco-leadership-conflict","24":"tag-santaco-president-sibanyoni","25":"tag-south-africa","26":"tag-south-africa-taxi-underworld","27":"tag-taxi-cartel-criminal-network","28":"tag-taxi-cartel-investigation","29":"tag-taxi-cartel-violence-south-africa","30":"tag-taxi-industry-assassinations","31":"tag-taxi-industry-power-struggle","32":"tag-taxi-industry-succession","33":"tag-taxi-underworld-gauteng","34":"tag-taxi-violence-south-africa","35":"tag-vusumuzi-cat-matlala"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}