The family of footballer Senzo Meyiwa says they want to know who orchestrated his murder. Five men arrested in connection with Meyiwa’s murder appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Gauteng’s East Rand on Tuesday.
They are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
The case has been postponed to the 27th of November where a formal charge sheet will be presented before court.
There was drama inside as the accused refused to get into the accused box. Instead, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokozeni Maphisa and Sifokuhle Ntuli stood beside the accused box throughout court proceedings.
Aside from Ntazi who has his own appointed legal representative, the magistrate asked the other accused if they will need a legal representative provided for by the state. The accused told the court that they see no necessity to have legal representatives.
Mncube even went as far as asking why he has been brought before court insisting that he did not kill Senzo Meyiwa.
Murder case postponed to the 27th November 2020, prosecution document mishandled:
They also told the court that they will not be applying for bail, some of them indicating that they don’t see any necessity to apply to be freed on bail as they are already serving time in prison. The accused also refuted statements by the police ministry that they were arrested in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal on Monday, saying that was all a lie as they have been in prison all along.
The magistrate told them he would not be entertaining whatever issue they wanted to raise at the time as this will be dealt with in the trial hearing.
Sifiso Meyiwa, the younger brother of the murdered Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain was in court. He says he is happy that arrests have been secured.
“Yes, I am happy that there’s people who have been arrested. For the police to bring them here means they have done a thorough investigation. We think they would not have brought them to court if they did not have strong evidence, which means police have evidence now that they brought them before court. We are happy there’s progress in the case.”
He says as the Meyiwa family, they would also want to see the orchestrator of the crime brought before court.
“I want to see the person who orchestrated the murder arrested.”
Last year, the Meyiwa family approached lobby group Afriforum to pursue a private prosecution of the case.
AfriForum’s legal representative and former prosecutor with the NPA Advocate Gerrie Nel expressed concern at what he views as an apparent misunderstanding between the police and the prosecution.
“The police saying there was a hit and the document read out in court indicating something different. I don’t think it is so big, that it cannot be fixed. I am sure there are further investigations, the police said that. That further investigation I have to infer only deals with somebody else, another aspect of the investigation. We will now deal with our clients because it has been six years. We all hoped that now after six years there will be a version that all people can buy into, now there seems to be more controversy.”
Soweto Mandlanzi, author of soccer star’s biography, fears for his life:
NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema maintains they have a water-tight case.
“There’s a lot of evidence that needs to be collected. There is sufficient evidence to charge the five. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.”
The case has been postponed to the 27th of next month. All accused have been remanded back in custody.
