In a day that started on a low note in court, things heated up in the post-lunch proceedings as a new witness in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial dropped a bombshell in his evidence-in-chief and then made a complete 180 degrees turn under cross-examination.
Jack Buthelezi, who is accused 2 Bongani Ntanzi’s friend, told the High Court in Pretoria that Ntanzi had told him he was arrested for illegal possession of ammunition and for killing the former Bafana Bafana captain.
However, under cross-examination, Buthelezi changed his tune, saying that Ntanzi had said it was the police who said he and his friends had killed the football star.
Meyiwa was shot and killed at his former girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s mother’s home when intruders allegedly stormed into the house before a scuffle broke.
Buthelezi’s evidence in court
Buthelezi says he first met Ntanzi in 2008, and the two became friends and moved in together at a hostel in 2019, before Ntanzi got a job at Impala Mine in Rustenburg.
He says while they stayed together, Ntanzi would on some weekends go to Johannesburg, where he was part of a traditional dancing group in Vosloorus.
According to Buthelezi, after the COVID-19 lockdown, he received a call from Ntanzi telling him he had been arrested.
Initially, state advocate George Baloyi kept telling Buthelezi not to disclose the contents of the conversation he had had with accused 2, and then eventually, he invited the bombshell from the witness.
“And if you could try and use the exact words that he used when he told you about this Meyiwa case. What did he say?” asked Baloyi.
“When he started telling me about that matter he turned away and he started crying,” Buthelezi responded.
“But what were his exact words, what did he say?”
“He said they were at the party and that he was in the company of his friends, abo Maphisa. They injured, killed Meyiwa. That’s all he said,” Buthelezi continued to answer.
There was complete silence in court at that moment as it seemed, Buthelezi had revealed a confession from the man who previously told the court he was the alleged taller intruder who was wearing a hoodie on that night.
Then there was a u-turn under cross-examination.
“Mr Buthelezi, I just need to get clarification on the conversation you had with accused number 2 inside the car. Do you understand? Did accused number 2 say he is arrested because he killed Senzo or he is arrested because the police say he killed Senzo?” asked defense lawyer, Advocate Zandile Mshololo.
“He said, I am arrested because it is said that I killed Senzo”, Buthelezi answered.
When did Warrant Officer Mosia arrive at the crime scene?
Earlier, Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo grilled Warrant Officer Thabo Mosia about the discrepancies between what he recorded in his pocketbook and what he told the court in his evidence-in-chief.
He told the court he arrived on the scene of Meyiwa’s murder around 6 in the morning on his second visit, but his pocketbook says something completely different.
“Between 6 am and 10:25 am which is the correct time as to your arrival at the crime scene on your second visit,” asked defence lawyer Zithulele Nxumalo.
“As I said when I prepared my evidence I was without these documents and it had been a long time since this incident.”
“Now that you have refreshed your memory, what would be the correct time?”
“I believe there is an error in the entry on the pocketbook because the crime scene management said they arrived on the scene at about 9 am and I was already there. That’s why I think there was a mistake with the entry in the pocketbook,” Mosia answered.
Mosia says he was “guessing” during his evidence-in-chief regarding the times he arrived on the Senzo Meyiwa scene and other scenes that he attended.
“No, I just need clarity of the issue of guessing, you are guessing what,” asked Nxumalo.
“I didn’t have the certainty of time for I didn’t have the source on which I could have recorded the time, which would have assisted me to mention the correct time.”
A new witness is expected to take the stand when the trial continues tomorrow.
