Gauteng High Court Strikes Off Sindane’s Bid to Stop Madlanga Commission Using WhatsApp Messages

• Bafana Sindane filed an urgent application at the North Gauteng High Court challenging the admissibility of WhatsApp messages seized from his devices
• The Mpumalanga Organised Crime Unit retrieved the messages, which the Commission planned to use as evidence against the taxi boss
• South Africans weighed in on the court's ruling regarding Sindane's urgent application, sharing various reactions about it

Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online.

GAUTENG — Bafana Sindane's urgent application to the North Gauteng High Court has been struck off the roll.

The taxi boss filed an urgent bid that sought to block WhatsApp messages recovered from his devices from being used as evidence before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. The application came after the Mpumalanga Organised Crime Unit retrieved the messages.

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The Commission had also indicated its intention to incorporate the communications into its body of evidence.

Sindane's evidence to be heard

The application adds another chapter to Sindane's protracted efforts to avoid engaging with the Commission's proceedings. He had been scheduled to appear on Wednesday, 23 September, following the testimony of fellow taxi boss Johannes "Ferrari" Sibanyoni.

Sindane did not appear in person, with his legal representative, Advocate Thabani Masuku, submitting a last-minute postponement request backed by a medical certificate citing uncontrollable hypertension. A second reason was also raised: Sindane was said to be observing a period of sacred spiritual seclusion for purposes of spiritual enlightenment.

Advocate Masuku urged the Commission not to interpret the practice as bad faith or an attempt to obstruct proceedings.

The Commission rejected the postponement bids, and Sindane was due to testify on Monday, 28 September 2026, when the urgent application was filed and subsequently struck off the roll.

Public reaction to the failed application

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Madlanga Commission rejects Bafana Sindane’s postponement bid, evidence to proceed on 28 September

The development drew sharp responses on social media.

@ntsundu_ said:

"I wonder what he is hiding in those WhatsApps."

@MelikhayaPants1 wrote:

"He is just wasting time and his money."

@NhlakaniphoNels added:

"We knew it. He just keeps wasting his time."

@Itumeleng156471 said:

"He must run fast to the Commission. We are waiting for him."

@whatwa2021 commented:

"Perfect...now we can move."

Sindane and Sibanyoni celebrate court victory

Briefly News also reported that Ferrari Sibanyoni and ‘King of the Sky’ Sindane were recorded living it up after their extortion and money laundering case was struck off the roll.

Sibanyoni and Sindane, two prominent taxi bosses, recently appeared before the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court alongside Mvimbi Masilela and Philemon Msiza.

Following the court’s ruling to strike the matter from the roll, Sibanyoni and his co-accused celebrated inside and outside the courtroom, but the celebrations did not end there.

Source: Briefly News