THE THIRD state witness in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has contradicted evidence previously heard from the SA Police Service’s forensic expert Thabo Mosia.
Meyiwa’s best friend, Tumelo Madlala, told the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday that the people who had been in the house when Meyiwa was shot were escorted to an apartment in Mulbarton, south of Johannesburg, a distance from the where the incident happened.
Mosia previously told the court that he had designated one of the bedrooms to the people who were in the house when he was securing the crime scene. This was after Meyiwa had been rushed to the nearby Botshelong Hospital in Vosloorus where he was declared dead.
He testified that the people in the house had no alternative accommodation because securing the crime scene continued until the early hours of the morning, and he had allocated a single room for the adults and children.
However, Madlala said in his testimony on Wednesday that after handing over their cellphones to the investigators that night, they were escorted to Mulbarton by an unknown police officer. Madlala said those in Meyiwa’s car included singer Kelly Khumalo, her sister Zandi and a child.
He said: “I am not certain about the exact time but it was the early hours of the morning. As I have already mentioned, we were being escorted and we were travelling in Senzo’s BMW. I think there were four of us, and I remember Kelly saying that she will not be able to stay in that house anymore and she was going to sell it.
He said he had been to the Mulbarton apartment before, which he said belonged to Meyiwa and Khumalo.”
“The other thing I remember when we were in Mulbarton, the police arrived. When you get to the gate [of the complex], security [guards] must let you in. So the security [guard] called the house where we were to inform us that the police were at the gate. Kelly told them not to open for the police.
He told the court that he did not know how the police subsequently gained entry into the premises but when they realised that the officers were outside, Khumalo told them to switch off the lights.
“I think Kelly must have seen them as they tried to look through the blinds … I don’t know who Kelly called and I think a certain order was given and the police left the premises and electricity was switched on again.”
Madlala is the third state witness in the trial, but the first to testify on circumstances inside the house in Vosloorus, where Meyiwa was gunned down in October 2014. He was in the house with Kelly, her sister Zandile and Longwe Twala, the son of iconic musician Chicco Twala.
Madlala, who hails from Umlazi in Durban, on Tuesday told the court that before visiting Meyiwa in Johannesburg, they spoke briefly on the phone. Meyiwa had asked if Kelly had deposited money into his account for him to make the trip from KwaZulu-Natal.
Image (The five accused for the murder of Meyiwa in court in Pretoria).
Meanwhile, Madlala has identified accused No: 2 Bongani Ntanzi as having been at the crime scene.
The trial continues.
