The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial is expected to come out guns blazing, ready to throw everything at the state’s attempts to have an alleged damning confession recording which the state says is of accused 2, Bongani Ntanzi, not considered as part of the evidential material.
The trial within a trial which commenced last Friday has been hearing arguments on the admissibility of the confession statements by accuseds 1 and 2, pointing out as well as warning statements by accuseds 3, 4 and 5.
The defence counsel for the first two accused has challenged the admissibility of accused 1, Muzi Sibiya’s confession statement, arguing it was under duress after the accused was tortured and was never tendered freely and voluntarily as required by the law.
The defence team, which on Monday roped in the services of Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, has told the court they will be mounting the same challenge against Ntanzi’s statement as well as the damning recording of his alleged confession.
In the recording, Ntanzi is understood to detail the alleged conspiracy to murder former Bafana Bafana captain, Senzo Meyiwa, who was killed at his former girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s mother’s home in Vosloorus in 2014, the parties involved in the commission of the murder, as well the mastermind behind the crime.
Following the arguments by the defence and the state, the court will later today make a ruling on whether the recording should be admitted as part of the evidential material.
If admitted the 1-hour-47-minute part of the 3-hour recording will then be played out in court.
Thereafter, Magistrate Vivian Cronje, who made the recording and took down the confession by Ntanzi will be cross-examined by the defence.
Throughout the afternoon proceedings, there was palpable tension among the five accused sitting in the dock, displaying solemn faces, with only accused 5 and 4 inaudibly talking to each other behind the cover of their hands in front of their mouths.
Ntanzi stared at the judge, and his legal counsel, punctuated with a drop of his head to stare down. The tallest of the accused, who was previously pointed out by the witnesses who were in the house when Meyiwa was shot and killed, was arrested on the 16th of June 2020 and eight days later appeared before Magistrate Vivian Cronje at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court where the recording, according to Cronje, was made.
Cronje on Tuesday told the court that Ntanzi had appeared calm, relaxed and had maintained eye contact when he made the confession, saying at one stage Ntanzi had made a request to call his family to bring him clothes to change as well as to speak to his child.
Ntanzi’s confession is the second to be heard by the court after it also heard of a confession by accused 1, Muzi Sibiya – the admissibility of which is also challenged by the defence.
Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu’s attempt to have the court start later than the usual time today came as a cropper when the judge declined it.
Mngomezulu, who’s representing accuseds 1 and 2 together with attorney Ramosepele, had told the court that he would arrive late on Thursday because he had another matter to attend to in the high court in Johannesburg.
The judge turned this request down saying he would personally call the judge hearing the matter to ask for its postponement to allow Mngomezulu to be in Pretoria at 10 a.m. this morning, also questioning why the Meyiwa trial should be delayed by his absence when his co-legal counsel, Ramosepele, was in court.
Senzo Meyiwa Murder Trial | Spotlight on authenticity, veracity of an audio recording
