“You Must Know It’s Us”: Taxi Boss’s Warning to Ramaphosa Comes Back to Haunt Him

Taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni is now sweating under the lights at the Madlanga Commission after his own words to President Cyril Ramaphosa came back to bite him.

In January 2024, at an ANC event in KwaNdebele, Mpumalanga, Sibanyoni stood in front of Ramaphosa and Minister Gwede Mantashe and made a bold demand. He wanted a 30 percent stake in Putco bus operations for local people. Then he dropped the line that is now causing him big trouble: “When you find someone wanting to interfere with the Putco business, you must know it’s us.” He added that locals would “fight for ourselves” if government did not help them cut the red tape.

A year later, in January 2025, 51 Putco buses were set alight at three depots in the Nkangala district. Armed men stormed the sites, tied up workers and sprayed flammable liquid on the vehicles. Putco also reported more than 350 times when taxis blocked their buses between October 2024 and January 2025, forcing drivers to turn around.

After the fires, Sibanyoni and his associates approached Putco with an offer to buy the company. Putco said it was not for sale and demanded a huge deposit plus billions in guarantees.

On Wednesday, 30 September 2026, those events landed on Sibanyoni’s lap at the commission in Pretoria. Evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson played the video of the 2024 meeting and asked if the warning, the blockades and the burned buses formed one plan to squeeze Putco out of the area.

Sibanyoni denied everything. He said “interfere” only meant talking business, not violence. “It was not me burning buses,” he told the commission. “You see the community. Can we not personalise this matter?”

He insisted he spoke for local people who have watched Putco run routes in KwaNdebele for more than 40 years while they stay outside. He claimed the 30 percent share was already gazetted for the community.

Chaskalson kept pressing. He pointed to the timing: the warning first, then the blockades, then the fires, then the buy-out offer. Sibanyoni pushed back and said the commission was making the matter personal.

The taxi industry in Mpumalanga has long been tense, with fights over routes and contracts. Putco carries about 20 000 commuters every day in that district. The burned buses left many people stranded and cost the company millions.

Sibanyoni remains a well-known figure in the taxi world. He is linked to several businesses that want a bigger slice of public transport. At the commission he kept repeating that he was only fighting for his people, not himself.

Whether the commission believes him is another story. His own voice on that 2024 video is now the strongest evidence against him. The man who told the President “you must know it’s us” now has to explain exactly who “us” is.

Source: https://x.com/News24/status/2105561062741299491

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