A dramatic historical irony unfolded at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, where retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and former National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams crossed paths on opposite sides of the courtroom.
The reunion took place during proceedings of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. The chair of the commission, Justice Madlanga, found himself presiding over a session where Advocate Abrahams appeared as the legal representative for a highly controversial figure.
Abrahams was at the commission to lead the legal team of prominent Mpumalanga taxi tycoon Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni.
The courtroom dynamic quickly drew the attention of legal observers due to the deep history between the chairperson and the advocate. Eight years prior, in August 2018, Justice Madlanga penned a landmark, scathing Constitutional Court majority judgment that fundamentally altered Abrahams’ career.
In that ruling, Madlanga declared former President Jacob Zuma’s removal of Nxasana and the subsequent appointment of Abrahams as head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to be entirely unconstitutional and invalid. The judgment effectively stripped Abrahams of his post as the nation’s top prosecutor.
During the morning session, the historical tension was briefly palpable as formal proceedings commenced. Observers noted that Justice Madlanga maintained strict control over the rules of engagement, firmly checking early procedural pushbacks from the legal teams to ensure the focus remained on the evidence at hand.
Flanked by Abrahams, Sibanyoni used his time on the witness stand to deny accusations linking him to extortion syndicates or rogue police information leaks. The taxi boss, currently out on R70,000 bail for an unrelated criminal extortion case in Delmas, framed himself as a legitimate businessman who had built his career over four decades.
He testified heavily about past assassination attempts against him, shifting the blame to rival elements and accusing a “cartel” of causing havoc in the transport sector.