High Court strikes off Bafana Sindane’s urgent bid against Madlanga Commission subpoena

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has struck the urgent case brought by taxi boss Bafana Sindane after required court papers were not filed, briefly delaying his attempt to stop a subpoena from the Madlanga Commission.

Judge: “There were no papers for this case”

Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi delivered a one-line ruling in court:

“There were no papers for this case, so the matter is struck off the roll.”

What the application sought and what happens next

Sindane had launched an urgent bid to interdict his subpoena before the Madlanga Commission. The matter was removed from the court roll because the required documents were not filed. The public hearings of the commission are set to resume on November 9, leaving Sindane’s response to evidence as the key outstanding issue.

Evidence already placed before the commission

Text messages exchanged between Sindane and his associate Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni have been linked to allegations of an extortion operation and were read into the commission record last week. An earlier legal attempt by Sindane to stop the publication of those messages was dismissed with costs.

Allegations before the commission

The commission is considering a range of allegations involving Sindane, including:

• Operating a violent criminal protection racket
• Obtaining leaked state intelligence
• Arranging hitmen
• Extorting over R2 million from contractor Tengane Mining
• Forcing businesses along the Moloto Road transport route to pay protection fees
• Helping fund R250,000 in legal fees for two convicted taxi-murder hitmen through a lawyer

Sindane has yet to respond to the allegations before the commission.

What was reported in court and at the commission

The text messages between Sindane and Sibanyoni, which the commission read into its record, are linked to the extortion-related allegations now under inquiry. The earlier application by Sindane to interdict the publication of those messages was refused and he was ordered to pay costs.

The removal of the urgent application from the court roll means the legal pathway Sindane pursued to block his appearance is currently stalled; the commission process and the evidence already entered remain in place.