One of the crucial links in the police investigation into the 2022 attempted murder of taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni is a white BMW 335i registered in the name of the daughter of one of the suspects.
The vehicle, which disappeared near Waterfall minutes after the shooting, was eventually tracked down two years later with a new owner in Northriding, Joburg. By then, it had changed hands three times — including via a Pretoria dealership — had new wheels, had been repaired by a panel beater to conceal bullet holes, and its white metallic paint had been covered with a green wrap.
When police recovered the car, they linked it to the crime through a fragment of a side mirror — apparently shot off during the gunfire outside Sibanyoni’s luxury Centurion estate — that had been left at the scene. Despite the change in colour, investigators were able to match the paint on the mirror fragment to the vehicle.
The Sunday Times understands that while investigating vehicles linked to suspects Musa Kekana, Tiego Mabusela and Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, police discovered that a white BMW registered to Mabusela’s daughter, Zandile Nzama, was sold to Brian Molefe Setume 10 days after the shooting.
Approached by police, Nzama said she was shocked and had never signed any documents to transfer ownership of the vehicle.
Danny [Mabusela] came to my house driving a white BMW 335i with bullet holes in the rear left door and inside the roof, and the right mirror was damaged … Danny said he was coming from Vereeniging to collect his boss’s money when someone started shooting at him. He ran to Erasmia SAPS and wanted to get rid of the car
— Brian Molefe Setume
When police followed up with Setume, they established that he knew Mabusela — they had previously been arrested together for fraud in 2008. Setume told police that Mabusela, his former mechanic, contacted him days after the shooting offering to sell him the BMW.
“On the same day, Danny [Mabusela] came to my house driving a white BMW 335i with bullet holes in the rear left door and inside the roof, and the right mirror was damaged … Danny said he was coming from Vereeniging to collect his boss’s money when someone started shooting at him. He ran to Erasmia SAPS and wanted to get rid of the car,” Setume said.
He said he exchanged a Ford Bantam and R70,000 cash for the BMW and took it to a panel beater to repair the bullet damage.
“Inside the car, I found two empty rifle cartridges under the front passenger seat and a bullet [lodged] between the hood lining and the roof. I informed Danny, and he told me to throw them away,” he told police.
Setume said Mabusela later told him he had been instructed to scrap the car. After repairing it, Setume registered the vehicle in his business’s name and sold it to a dealership, Bra Nines Motors, for R120,000.
The dealership then sold the car to Alfred Idris for R130,000 in early 2023. Idris paid in two instalments, replaced the side mirrors, rims and tyres, and had the car wrapped in Sandton. He told police he received the registration papers from Setume.
Once the police recovered the BMW, they stripped it and matched the mirror fragment from the crime scene to the vehicle.
Police also established that the BMW had initially been hidden at the home of Matlala’s ex-girlfriend, Ledile Papo. She told police the vehicle was later collected by a man after arrangements were made by Matlala
The bullet damage was consistent with shots fired from a low position, in line with a security guard’s account. The guard said he had dropped to the ground to avoid being shot and returned fire from that position.
Police also established that the BMW had initially been hidden at the home of Matlala’s ex-girlfriend, Ledile Papo. She told police the vehicle was later collected by a man after arrangements were made by Matlala.
In addition to the vehicle and cellphone triangulation placing Mabusela and Kekana at the scene, bullet casings recovered there were matched to firearms — including an AK-47 assault rifle — used in other cases in which the suspects were implicated.
Those cases form part of 18 other matters, including the murders of:
- Oupa John Sefoka (DJ Sumbody);
- Soweto businessman Hector Buthelezi (DJ Vintos); and
- engineer Armand Swart.
Sefoka and Buthelezi were killed in separate shootings in Woodmead and Soweto in 2022. In both instances, the attackers were in vehicles. Police described the killings as drug-related.
The same firearm was also linked to the 2023 attempted hit on Matlala’s former girlfriend, Tebogo Thobejane, who was shot at while travelling from a nightclub in Sandton.
Kekana and Tiego Mabusela were charged alongside Katiso “KT” Molefe in the Sefoka, Buthelezi and Swart murder trials and alongside Matlala in the Sibanyoni and Thobejane attempted murder cases.
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