Khumalo told the court the accusation strained relationships well beyond his business.
Fleurhof resident, Tiffany Meek appears at the Roodepoort Magistrate court in Roodepoort, 23 July 2025, before her bail application denied forthe murder charges of her 11 year old Jayden Lee Meek and attempting to defeat the course of justice. Picture :Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen
Transport driver Ndonga Khumalo on Wednesday told the Johannesburg High Court how being accused of Jayden-Lee Meek’s murder in front of an angry crowd cost him his business, his friendships and, at times, his sense of safety.
Khumalo’s account of the day Jayden disappeared
Khumalo, the scholar transport driver who collected Jayden-Lee Meek from Royal College on 13 May 2026, told the court he picked the boy up along with several other pupils that afternoon and dropped him last, at the gate of the complex where he lived.
He said the security gate was not working electronically that day, forcing the guard to get up and open it by hand rather than using the usual remote.
According to his evidence, Jayden walked through the gate carrying his school bag, with his tracksuit top over his arm rather than worn, and the gate was closed behind him as he entered the property.
Khumalo said this was a routine he had followed for several weeks by that point, having taken over the boy’s transport arrangement from another driver whose vehicle had broken down.
He told the court he had no reason to think anything was wrong when he left the complex, describing the drop-off as identical to the ones before it.
“He had his school bag with him and he was holding his jacket,” he said of Jayden’s appearance that afternoon.
It was only later that evening, he said, that he learned something was wrong, when his wife received word that the boy had not arrived home.
Khumalo maintained throughout his evidence that he had safely dropped Jayden inside the gate and had no further contact with him thereafter.
Accusation destroyed his business
Khumalo testified that being publicly blamed for the boy’s death had a swift and lasting financial impact on the business he had built over six years.
“[It] damaged my business, man… [it] destroyed it. I lost an income,” he said.
Parents who had relied on him for their children’s daily school runs began withdrawing their children soon after the accusation spread through the community.
“They stopped using my business,” he said, describing how clients he had worked with for years pulled out without warning.
He added that the business had only partially recovered since then. “It’s slowly recovering, but it’s not where it was before this thing happened,” he told the court.
Accused made the claim in front of a crowd
Khumalo said he learned that Tiffany Meek, Jayden’s mother and the accused in the matter, had named him only once the claim had already spread through the community.
According to his evidence, she told people gathered at the complex on the morning of 14 May 2026, shortly after Jayden-Lee’s body was found, that she blamed him.
“I blame the transport driver for what happened to my son,” he recalled being told she had said.
He testified that the claim followed him onto the road in the days after.
“When I was driving around with my beautiful white microbus, people would point at it and say, ‘That is the white microbus that killed Jaden,'” he said.
He added that a stranger in the crowd who had witnessed the drop-off spoke up in his defence that morning, which he believes may have spared him a confrontation at his own home. “That woman saved my life,” he said.
Fallout reached his family
Khumalo told the court the accusation strained relationships well beyond his business.
“Family members turn their backs on us,” he said, adding that his wife, who had arranged the original transport agreement with the family, had also struggled with the aftermath.
He said his teenage daughter had been directly affected at school because of the allegations against him.
“My daughter was bullied in school,” he told the court.
Khumalo added that he personally feared for his safety while driving in public.
“No one wanted to be my friend last year,” he said, describing how the accusation had isolated him socially in the months that followed.
Case postponed for site inspection
Jayden Lee’s mother is facing charges of crimen injuria and defeating the ends of justice in connection with the case.
Proceedings were paused after both defence and state counsel raised confusion over floor numbering at the complex where Jayden-Lee’s body was found, saying it needed to be resolved before further witnesses testified.
The judge granted an application for an in loco inspection of the scene, finding “there is merit in such an application.”
The matter was formally postponed to Wednesday, 26 August 2026, when the inspection will take place before the trial resumes at the High Court.
