Why is the Meyiwa trial dragging on so long?
I doubt if the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial had taken place 40 years ago in typical apartheid South Africa it would have been allowed to be dragged through the high courts with such pomp and gaiety for such a long time.
The apartheid police’s notorious ability to squeeze the truth out of many known tough township criminals was what made them feared and respected.
In fact, much of the unacceptable behaviour displayed by some of the witnesses in the Meyiwa trial at the Pretoria High Court would have landed some of them in court for serious violations, including perjury.
I doubt if the Meyiwa trial would have progressed this far. Brigadier Buthelezi after all suggested that the six people who were with the deceased inside the Khumalo home in Vosloorus on the night of the murder should be arrested and charged.
Buthelezi was the officer who led the first team of police investigators from the Vosloorus SAPS to investigate the murder shortly after the soccer star was shot and killed inside the home of his girlfriend and singer, Kelly Khumalo in 2014. Buthelezi was unceremoniously removed from investigating the Meyiwa murder.
The people, who were with the murdered soccer ace in the Khumalo home in Vosloorus that night were Kelly, her younger sister Zandile Khumalo, their mother Ntombi Khumalo as well Longwe Twala – the son of township pop music producer Sello ‘Chicco’ Twala, together with two friends of the deceased, Mthokozisi Twala and Tumoelo Madlala.
Buthelezi’s suggestion was that all six were to be rounded up and arrested and charged with perjury and defeating the end of justice.
After Buthelezi was removed from the case, a new team of investigators was assigned to continue and a new docket was opened. The two case dockets were supported by different theories about how Meyiwa met his death.
In the new case docket, the theory was that the deceased had been shot and killed during a botched house robbery by unnamed intruders.
The unknown intruders were described as three men, two of whom were armed with a firearm and a knife and they entered the house and used the weapons to demand money and cellphones from the eight occupants who were in the house.
According to evidence revealed by witnesses at the Pretoria High Court, Meyiwa was shot during a tussle with one of the robbers and died later on arrival in hospital. However, this was disputed by the testimony of a medical doctor at the hospital who testified in court that the soccer star was already dead when he was brought to the Botshelong Hospital.
What remains baffling is how the two dockets are being investigated by two different teams of detectives.
The botched robbery scenario is currently being heard by Chief Justice Ratha Mokgoatleng. The five men charged with Senzo Meyiwa’s murder have all pleaded not guilty to the murder.
The accused are Bongani Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli. They face charges of murder, attempted murder, and robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.
