Heated moment between Adv Chaskalson & Sibanyoni over burned Putco buses.

Explosive Standoff at Inquiry Over Torched Bus Fleets, Taxi Control, and Sabotage Theories

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A fiery and tense sequence of exchanges unfolded at the commission inquiry as evidence leader Mr. Chaskalson backed Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni into a corner over allegations of bus blockades, taxi route control, and the dramatic destruction of 51 public transit vehicles.

The hearing reached a boiling point early on when Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni lashed out at Mr. Chaskalson, accusing the chief evidence leader of personalizing the investigation into Putco transport operations and pushing the inquiry beyond its official scope.

The Commission Chair immediately shut down Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni, sternly issuing a direct warning regarding his allegations.

“I am telling you straight to your face that that is not so,” the Chair stated, firmly defending Mr. Chaskalson and confirming that the commission’s investigators were fully entitled to consult with Putco management.

Mr. Chaskalson then confronted Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni with transcript testimony from August 28, in which he had previously detailed how minibus taxi associations act as powerful economic gatekeepers.

In that prior testimony, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni described how taxi associations mandate that operators obtain letters of recommendation to secure permits from the Provincial Regulatory Entity, enforcing a strict rule of one association controlling one specific route.

When Mr. Chaskalson asked how an outsider would launch a taxi route from Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni‘s ancestral home in Kwaggafontein to Tshwane, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni insisted under oath that his earlier testimony applied strictly to his own local route between Pretoria and Johannesburg, rather than Kwaggafontein.

The Commission Chair expressed severe difficulty with Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni‘s abrupt pivot, questioning how he could jump from a specific hypothetical question about Kwaggafontein to his own operations in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Despite objections from his legal counsel, Ms. Gofa, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni insisted that he was simply clarifying his past statements for the record.

Mr. Chaskalson then shifted the inquiry to dynamic CCTV footage captured on the night of January 27, 2025, at the Putco Muloto bus depot.

The evidence leader noted that although the camera date stamp displayed January 26 due to a battery error, the violent attack actually occurred on the night of January 27, 2025.

The video footage played in court showed armed criminals crossing the road carrying a can of flammable liquid, holding up workers at gunpoint, and setting multiple buses ablaze.

Within 10 minutes of the group entering the facility, massive flames engulfed the depot.

Mr. Chaskalson placed on record that a total of 51 buses were torched across three separate Putco depots that night: 16 buses at Muloto, 18 buses at the Volstruisbeek depot, and 17 buses at the Mpisiwe depot.

When questioned about his supplementary statement, in which he claimed that Putco torched its own buses in connection with labor and industry disputes, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni struggled to provide concrete evidence.

Under rigorous cross-examination, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni admitted that no labor strike was active on January 27, 2025, although he maintained that a strike had occurred in 2024.

Pressed on where his theory originated, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni testified that Putco CEO Mr. Pissaschia had previously complained about the company’s aging fleet and the frequent fatal accidents on the dangerous Moloto Road.

Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni suggested that Putco might have burned its own aging fleet to collect insurance payouts and replace the vehicles, while simultaneously requesting an official precision investigation into the matter.

Panel members pushed back, asking how an insurance fraud scheme could be linked to ongoing taxi blockades or labor disputes.

In response, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni attempted to distance himself from his public warnings to the President that “if people interfere with the Putco business, you must know it is us”, claiming he spoke purely on behalf of the local community and business forum rather than as an individual.

Finally, Mr. Chaskalson produced text message logs from File 3, Page 101, showing an exchange between Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni and Bafana Sindani on January 29, 2025—just 36 hours after the 51 buses were destroyed.

The digital records revealed Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni instructing Bafana Sindani to “engage Thulani ASAP”, referring to Thulani Mkhwebane, a former associate at Taxi Choice.

A follow-up text message sent two minutes later by Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni read: “This is the company I am using to purchase these buses”.

When asked why he was attempting to purchase 15 buses from Putco immediately after 51 vehicles were reduced to ashes, Joseph Bafana Sibanyoni claimed it was part of a pre-existing, ongoing negotiation to buy older fleet vehicles that had already been set aside for his group.

Heated moment between Adv Chaskalson & Sibanyoni over burned Putco buses.

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