The defence in the trial of alleged underworld figure Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala has suggested that a key state witness may have accidentally shot taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni during a high-profile ambush outside the Centurion Residential Estate and Country Club in August 2022 — a claim the witness firmly rejected under tense cross-examination.
Bethwell Cele, a security guard who was on duty at the estate at the time of the shooting, is the State’s first witness in the Sibanyoni attempted murder matter. On Wednesday, the third day of Matlala’s trial, Cele was cross-examined by advocate Nardus Grove, who represents one of the accused, Floyd Mabusela. The cross-examination focused on what Cele did during the shootout, how many shots he fired, where those rounds went, and what followed after police arrived.
Matlala, his wife Tsakani Matlala, alleged hitmen Floyd Mabusela and Musa Kekana, and Nthabiseng Nzama have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges linked to incidents between October 2023 and January 2025. But this week, the trial has begun with sharp attention on the attempted murder of Sibanyoni — a case that has long been associated with claims of organised, heavy-weapon ambush tactics.
The charges the accused face go beyond the Sibanyoni incident. The court has also heard that the case includes the attempted murder of Matlala’s former girlfriend, actress Tebogo Thobejane, and that of music producer Seunkie Mokubung, known as DJ Vettys.
On Wednesday, however, the courtroom remained locked on the events outside the Centurion Residential Estate and Country Club — also known as the Centurion Golf Estate — where Cele previously told the court he fired at least 15 rounds at attackers who, he says, arrived in a white BMW.
Grove’s cross-examination introduced a provocative alternative theory: that Cele’s own gunfire, in the confusion of the exchange, may have struck Sibanyoni.
Advocate Grove put it to Cele that one of the 15 shots he fired could have hit Sibanyoni, and that Cele may have later tried to protect himself when he made his first statement to police. Grove also questioned whether Cele was later employed by Sibanyoni, implying a relationship that needed explanation.
Cele rejected both allegations.
“I do not agree with that,” he told the court.
Grove returned repeatedly to the volume of fire and what he suggested were missed shots, arguing that a significant number of Cele’s rounds did not hit the BMW allegedly used by the attackers.
“You fired 15 and missed the vehicle at least nine times,” Grove said.
Cele pushed back against the implication that his bullets could only have gone into empty space. He challenged Grove on whether he had been told that bullets struck structures inside the estate.
Instead, Cele challenged the suggestion and asked whether Grove had been informed that bullets had also struck houses and walls at the estate during the shooting.
Grove nonetheless persisted with the possibility that Cele’s fire could have struck Sibanyoni. Cele denied this directly, responding with both denial and a question of motive.
“I never shot Mr Sibanyoni. What was the reason for me shooting him?”
The cross-examination then shifted to what Grove suggested was a suspicious post-shooting connection: whether Sibanyoni had employed Cele. Grove asked it plainly.
“Is it true that you are now working for him?” Grove asked.
Cele’s answer was careful, drawing a distinction between working “directly” for Sibanyoni and being deployed through an intermediary.
“I don’t work directly for Mr Sibanyoni; he is not the one paying me. I am working for him through another company,” Cele told the court.
As Grove continued pressing the point, Cele became visibly frustrated. At one stage, he complained that the line of questioning was making it seem as though he was responsible for the events of the night.
It is like I am the one who started the scene. I am tired. It is now as if you (Grove) are desperate.
Judge Cassim Moosa intervened, acknowledging Cele’s frustration and urging him to remain composed.
He encouraged the witness to “take a deep breath, sit back and relax”.
Earlier in the day, the court turned to visual evidence to help place Cele’s account geographically. A Google Maps image was displayed on a projector, and Cele used it to explain how he witnessed the events unfold outside the estate entrance.
Using a red laser pointer, Cele showed the route he says the white BMW took from John Vorster Drive, turning onto Centurion Drive and heading towards the estate. He testified that the BMW travelled slowly before stopping in the parking area outside the estate, where Sibanyoni and his friends had parked.
Cele told the court he was standing on the pavement near the entrance when the shooting began. He said he opened fire at the vehicle and maintained that some of his rounds did hit it, particularly on the left side.
“I struck the side mirror and windscreen,” Cele testified.
That detail fed into another line of questioning that probed what police did — and did not do — after processing the scene. Cele told the court that after police completed their work, he photographed the BMW’s left-side mirror.
Grove pressed him on why he had the mirror, and how it came to be left behind.
“So they (police) left the mirror behind?” Grove asked.
“Yes,” Cele replied.
Cele said perhaps that was simply how police “operated”. He also confirmed the mirror was lying on the road outside the estate, but conceded he did not report it to police.
The exchange added to a wider set of issues the defence appears to be building: questions about scene management, the trajectory of bullets, whether evidence was properly collected, and whether the witness’s conduct after the incident should affect how the court views his reliability.
By late Wednesday, the court had not resolved the dispute over whether Cele’s shots could have struck Sibanyoni, but the defence had succeeded in placing the suggestion on record — forcing the witness to confront it directly, and prompting a judicial intervention as the cross-examination grew tense.
The case was postponed to Thursday, when the trial is expected to continue with further questioning and evidence as the State works to link Matlala and his co-accused to the attempted murder and the defence continues to probe for inconsistencies in witness accounts.
