The police officers investigating the extortion case involving taxi tycoon Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni and his co-accused have alleged that they are receiving threats.
This was disclosed by the state prosecutor when Sibanyoni and his co-accused, Bafana Happy Sindane, Daniel Masilela and Philemon Msiza, appeared in the Delmas Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 20 October.
“Your Worship, we want to place on record that the police officers investigating this case have been receiving threats. But we are not attributing these threats to anyone,” said the prosecutor.
These allegations left the accused’s legal team, which consists of, among others, Advocate Shaun Abrahams, Advocate Menzi Simelane and Advocate Masuku SC frothing at the mouth.
“Your Worship, we want to place on record that my client, Mr Joe Sibanyoni, distances himself from those allegations. That has not been disclosed to us. The threat allegations should not be attributed to my client,” he said.
He was supported by Simelane.
“Your Worship, we don’t know what the state wants you to do with that information. This was not disclosed to us when we met with the prosecutor in the court chambers,” he said.
He said the state was using ambush tactics to cast their client in a bad light.
“This matter is being broadcast live. This will cast my client in a bad light,” he said.
The prosecutor and the defence also faced off over the state’s decision to disclose that it was still investigating other issues involving the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Abrahams opposed this, saying the SARS matter had nothing to do with the extortion case brought by the state against the accused.
“The SARS matter is a private matter. It has nothing to do with this matter,” he said.
Simelane took a dig at the state for raising the SARS matter in court.
“Raising the SARS matter is to scandalise the accused, as this matter is being televised,” he said.
However, the state and the defence agreed that the accused’s bail conditions would be relaxed, allowing them to report to their nearest police station once a month instead of once a week.
The case was then postponed to 20 April next year for final investigations.
