TAXI boss Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni (centre) consults with his legal team after extortion and money laundering charges against him and his co-accused were struck off the court roll in the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga, on May 13.
Professor Sipho P. Seepe
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, famously observed that “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) latest embarrassment — the striking off the roll of the case against taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni and his co-accused in Mpumalanga — fits neatly into this pattern. It is not an isolated blunder, but another episode in the steady erosion of public trust in the institutions meant to dispense justice.
The chaos engulfing the NPA is not merely a case of gross incompetence. That much is obviously evident. It is also part of a broader strategy to weaponise law enforcement agencies: shielding allies of the powerful while pursuing political opponents with selective zeal. This is no accident of governance; it flows from structural design. There is a method to the seeming madness.
