For avid readers of the Sunday Times, revelations at the Madlanga commission this week that taxi boss Madoda Johannes “Joe Ferrari” Sibanyoni received R2.29m from a subcontractor through what appears to be extortion came as no surprise.
That’s because the paper for the people — the Sunday Times — was first to reveal on June 7 how the reported extortion operated in a front-page story titled “Inside Sibanyoni ‘extortion racket’” written by Thanduxolo Jika and Sabelo Skiti, our investigations tsars.
In that piece, which you can read here for free, we lifted the veil on this R2.2m “protection fee” squeezed from Thomas Ntuli, a mining executive whose company had received a contract to supply aggregate stones in Sanral’s R3.7bn construction of Moloto Road. The payment records seen by the Sunday Times and reported on at the time were flighted by the Madlanga commission this week.
It must have created a surreal feeling of déjà vu for our subscribers. We like it that way. This is what we mean when we say subscribing to the Sunday Times and TimesLIVE is like having a front row seat in a theatre showcasing the unfolding story of our nation.
The only new twist this week was seeing Sibanyoni tongue-tied in his explanation of why Ntuli paid him and others the R2.2m. He described it as a partnership in terms of which Ntuli needed “30% local content” to get the tender, without which he’d have nothing from Sanral. He could not prove this. No documentation existed to support this. In June the Sunday Times brought you the WhatsApps that showed Ntuli was fearful and turned to the police because he did not want to pay for the so-called 30% local content, which Sanral knew nothing about.
But what’s important to us at the Sunday Times is that we are able to say, with pride but also a great deal of humility, that you read it first on our platforms. We were able to bring you this exclusive with great thanks to our thousands of subscribers and advertisers. This is just one of many examples of how great journalism puts you in that front-row seat.
We consistently break boundaries to bring our subscribers the finest in investigative journalism in addition to well-researched opinions, groundbreaking sport, business and lifestyle
You would have seen a warrant of arrest being issued against former defence minister and speaker of parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who was a no-show in her trial in the Pretoria high court. She had, on several occasions, indicated she was unwell and fatigued after days of cross-examination.
For those who subscribe to the Sunday Times, the information wearing down Mapisa-Nqakula and forcing unscheduled temporary halts to her trial wasn’t quite the news it was billed to be.
That’s because our subscribers were the first to get it when the Sunday Times broke the story on Sunday March 3 2024. We told our subscribers then of the weaves and the wigs, of the cash deliveries, of the fallout between the former minister and defence contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu. You can read that initial piece by Skiti here.
Recently, the Sunday Times brought you exclusive details, including WhatsApp messages, linking popular DJs, the much-talked-about case of cocaine stolen from police storage in KwaZulu-Natal and Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala in a story that forced the authorities to express discomfort through a midnight statement at the level of our access.
For the first time, we linked Seunkie “DJ Vettys” Mokubung and Oupa “DJ Sumbody” Sefoka to underground gang boss Ralph Stanfield, taxi bosses Sibanyoni and Jotham “King Mswazi” Msibi, Matlala and other members of the big money stokvel called “Money Talks”. You may read these front-page pieces that have become even more relevant today here and here.
The Sunday Times was also the first to bring you details of how deputy national police commissioner Lt-Gen Sindile “Pitso” Mfazi was murdered, how his cold-blooded killing was classified as Covid-related to avoid investigations, and how his diaries, which we had access to, turned everything on its head six years later. We open this detailed story here.
Your subscriptions matter not just for the sustainability of the Sunday Times but for the health of our democracy
We consistently break boundaries to bring our subscribers the finest in investigative journalism in addition to well-researched opinions, groundbreaking sport, business and lifestyle.
The kind of journalism we do comes not only with a great deal of risk; it is also expensive and requires teams with different skills — including photojournalists, videographers, graphic artists and specialist editors. We do it because, well, we love it, but, importantly, we have a duty to our democracy.
It is our responsibility to shine a spotlight on malfeasance — whether it involves Sibanyoni, Matlala, Sibiya, corrupt Free State officials or businessmen. It is our duty, too, to report, as we have done, when Transnet turns a corner toward self-sustainability and Eskom, under CEO Dan Marokane and board chair Mteto Nyati, starts making a profit after years of incompetence and aimless drift under André de Ruyter.
Your subscription and Sunday purchases of the hard copy of the Sunday Times make all the great work possible. It matters. It ensures we are able, daily, to send out an army of reporters to establish facts in a world suffused with misinformation, to investigate in a world clamouring for secrecy, to analyse a complex world always in a state of flux. It is our duty to ensure information integrity. All of this in pursuit of the public interest. It is the best way — through accountability and transparency — to show loyalty to our flag, our country. Your subscriptions matter not just for the sustainability of the Sunday Times but for the health of our democracy.
Otherwise, people like Sibanyoni would continue to be well-ensconced in their homes at Centurion Golf Estate on the back of — among other things — cash deposits from people like Ntuli. Injustice by any other name is still injustice.
Getting to the truth is not an inexpensive exercise. Our work is impactful and goes to the heart of our democracy. Be part of the growing number of those who are first to get exclusives from the country’s favourite Sunday read, if you aren’t already. If you are, thank you for journeying with us.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.