Health, spiritual retreat cited in bid to delay Sindane’s Madlanga testimony - IOL

Taxi boss Bafana Sindane is said to be undergoing traditional seclusion.

Mpumalanga taxi boss, Bafana “King of the Sky” Sindane's legal team said their client was battling uncontrollable hypertension and was concurrently undergoing a period of sacred spiritual seclusion.

His lawyer, Advocate Thabani Masuku, presented a multi-layered application before the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday to postpone his testimony.

Masuku raised three issues, including his medical condition, his spiritual retreat, and a pending High Court challenge to the commission’s subpoena.

He said that Sindane’s spiritual seclusion was a deeply personal and culturally significant process that could not simply be interrupted to accommodate the inquiry.

“The issue is whether, in his current condition, he's able to follow, even if you were to file his evidence, he's able to follow what is going on,” he said.

The legal team argued that the practice was inseparable from his personhood, identity, and well-being as an African person and maintained that the commission should not “force or coerce” him to abandon it.

Masuku also argued that Sindane’s refusal to disclose the intimate details of the retreat should not result in an adverse inference being drawn against him.

But the lawyers also placed a medical certificate before the commission on Wednesday, citing high blood pressure as a separate reason Sindane was not fit to testify or properly engage with the proceedings.

The medical issue added a new dimension to earlier correspondence in which the spiritual seclusion had been raised, requiring the legal team to explain that the two circumstances were occurring simultaneously.

Sindane’s lawyers further pointed to an urgent application before the Pretoria High Court seeking to interdict the commission’s subpoena.

That matter is scheduled to be heard on October 6, 2026.

A related dispute concerns information allegedly extracted from Sindane’s cellphone by the Mpumalanga Organised Crime Unit and subsequently provided to the commission.

His lawyers are challenging the use of private WhatsApp messages, reportedly containing references to alleged hitmen and payments involving co-accused Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni.

The defence argued that the material should not be used until the High Court has considered the legality of its acquisition and use.

However, Chief Evidence Leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC opposed the broader postponement request.

While he did not challenge the medical certificate, he argued that the pending court application and spiritual seclusion should not bring the commission’s work to a halt.

Chaskalson described the High Court challenge as a “self-created urgency”, arguing that Sindane’s legal team had waited until shortly before his scheduled appearance to launch the interdict application.

He suggested the matter could potentially be struck from the roll because of the delay.

He also urged the commission to place the disputed WhatsApp material in the public domain rather than withholding it.

On Sindane’s absence, Chaskalson proposed that documentary evidence connected to his testimony should nevertheless be “flighted” before the commission, allowing the inquiry to continue while preserving the opportunity for Sindane to respond at a later stage.

The evidence leader stressed that the commission could not afford prolonged delays.

“Our programme is tight. It’s not just that we can't give double the time to the witnesses who don't want to be here. We can't give 50% more time to those witnesses. We won't finish. And we do need to finish,” Chaskalson said.

Madlanga is expected to rule on the matter on Monday.