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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) wants the magistrates’ commission to investigate how Tuletu Tonjeni ended up presiding over the Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni case.
The prosecuting body also wants the commission to probe her use of language which lacked court decorum.
Sibanyoni and his two co-accused, Philemon Msiza and Mvimbi Masilela, were arrested on May 12 and made their first appearance the next day at the Kwaggafontein magistrate’s court in Mpumalanga, where they were formally charged with extortion and money laundering.
It is alleged that the accused extorted more than R2m from businessman Thomas Ntuli between 2022 and 2025.
During their appearance, magistrate David Erasmus told the court that he was informed that Tonjeni, the acting head of the court, could not preside over the matter.
He said she asked him to preside over the accused’s first appearance and to postpone the matter to May 15.
Kaizer Kganyago, NPA spokesperson, said: “We have indicated to the magistrates’ commission that we are not happy with the conduct of the magistrate. Among other things is the language she used on the 15th, and the other is the procedural matter of how she became the person who called the case and presided over it, which is something that should not have been done.”
On May 15, the fourth accused, Bafana Sindane, handed himself over to the police and was added to the charge sheet.
The four accused all appeared in the dock and commenced with their bail application, but due to a lack of time, it had to be postponed to Monday, May 18.
While deliberating on the matter, the state prosecutor advocate Mkhuseli Ntaba told Tonjeni that he had other commitments on Monday and asked for the matter to be postponed to Tuesday.
Tonjeni said she was pleading with Ntaba to appear on Monday, and if she had to ”force it down his throat, she would do so”.
On May 18, Shaun Abrahams SC, representing the accused, asked Tonjeni to find Ntaba in contempt after he failed to appear in court.
Abrahams also applied for the matter to be struck off the court roll.
Tonjeni ruled in Abrahams’ favour and said she would authorise Ntaba’s arrest.
After the ruling, the NPA placed Ntaba on precautionary suspension while investigating his reasons for failing to show up in court.
“The suspension is precautionary; it is meant for our internal investigation to happen, which is happening,” said Kganyago. “Then once it is done, we will know what the next step is from here.
“We are doing internal investigations around all the circumstances. We don’t want a situation where we don’t look at everything and they come back to bite us.”
The NPA has since filed an appeal to challenge the contempt of court judgment.
Sister publication Sowetan previously reported that on May 18, Ntaba was on his way to court but turned back because he was receiving death threats.
Sibanyoni and his co-accused are expected to appear before the Delmas magistrate’s court, where the matter is expected to be re-enrolled.
Sowetan
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