In a written confession obtained a few hours after his arrest on May 30, 2020, Accused 1, Muzi Sibiya, mentioned the name of the person who allegedly instructed them to kill former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa. This information was disclosed by the lead investigator, Brigadier Bongani Gininda, while providing testimony at the High Court in Pretoria on Monday during the Senzo Meyiwa murder case.
Gininda resumed his cross-examination in court this morning after a break of almost two months following the postponement of the trial in November when Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu for Accused 1, Sibiya, and Accused 2, Bongani Ntanzi, told the court that he was not feeling well and could not continue with the interrogation.
However, this morning he confirmed that he was fit to proceed with trial within a trial hearing arguments on the admissibility of confession statements by the first two accused, pointings-out by accused 1 as well as warning statements by the three other accused.
During Monday’s proceedings, the court heard glimpses of what might be in the much-discussed confession statements.
“In the written confession, certain things were said by Accused 1, which if one follows extensively and what we followed is in the docket that was handed to the accused. As I said, we needed to corroborate what was said in there and that was followed,” says Gininda.
“So, there were things that were said about his co-accused and where possibly the whole thing came from – the killing of Senzo Meyiwa. Because he mentions clearly who gave them the instruction to kill Senzo Meyiwa. Those things you cannot just say now it’s enough. You have not found independent corroboration of what was said,” he adds.
Sibiya was arrested on the afternoon of 30th of May 2020 for the illegal possession of ammunition, for which he was sentenced last week at the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court. A few hours following his arrest, Sibiya was transported to Soweto where he confessed to Colonel Mhlanganyela Mbotho.
The defence has argued that Sibiya was assaulted and tortured into signing a confession that had already been typed up in Soweto.
Gininda has denied this. “That he did not make the confession freely and voluntarily is not true. I asked him and he never mentioned that to me. He did it freely and voluntarily and that is why the following day he continued with the pointings-out of the traditional healer and so on.”
The post-lunch proceedings stalled when Advocate Zandile Mshololo rose in the middle of Mngomezulu’s cross-examination of the witness, submitting that the contents of the dockets Gininda was testifying on, linking accused 2, Bongani Ntanzi, to the Meyiwa murder, be made available to the defence.
This emerged when Adv Mngomezulu interrogated Gininda on the Kwa-Nongoma case docket for which Ntanzi was arrested on the 16th of June 2020. Mngomezulu put it to Gininda that Ntanzi had never appeared in court in relation to the docket and that the case was finalized with the names of Thabani Ngwenya and Qiniselani Buthelezi appearing in the docket.
Gininda says the reason Ntanzi never appeared in relation to the Kwa-Nongoma case was because the matter was never enrolled when he appeared in court on the 19th of June. Later that day, Gininda says ammunition was found in Ntanzi’s place of residence in Rustenburg.
He says a decision was then made to centralise investigations of four different cases involving Ntanzi. These, it is understood, involved the drugs case in Vosloorus, the murder case in Kwa-Nongoma, the illegal possession of ammunition case in Rustenburg as well as another murder in Carletonville relating to fights between labour unions.
Adv Mshololo has requested the contents of these four dockets be made available to the defence. The court adjourns early for the state to make copies of the four dockets.
The trial will continue on Tuesday.
