MDLULI’S LAWYER QUESTIONS RECORDING

PROSECUTORS in the trial of former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli yesterday managed to cast doubt on the testimony of a defence witness by producing a recording of a meeting at which he was present.

Warrant Officer Solomon Mashamaite had on Wednesday testified that 10 years after he responded to an attempted murder scene‚ he was called into the Hawks office to help with an official investigation into the matter.

The victim was Alice Manana‚ a friend of Mdluli’s customary wife‚ Tshidi Buthelezi, who had been wounded in a drive-by shooting.

Mashamaite said when he arrived at the Hawks office‚ prosecutors Deon Barnard and Zaais van Zyl‚ investigating officer Kobus Roelofse‚ a coloured man‚ a black woman named Kholeka and two white women were present.

He claimed that after numerous questions from those present‚ Kholeka accused him of trying to protect Mdluli‚ who had been suspected of putting out the hit on Manana.

Mashamaite said he was intimidated and threatened with being charged with defeating the ends of justice.

“I was so angry to the point where I began to cry. I said to her‚ because of such questioning‚ that will be the reason that I am killed and if you find my head in one place and my body in another‚ [it is] because you want me to say certain things‚” Mashamaite said.

The prosecution threw a spanner in the works‚ saying they had recorded the entire meeting.

After arguments about the authenticity of the recording‚ it was eventually played yesterday.

In the recording‚ Mdluli’s name is never mentioned.

Mashamaite was instead heard saying Manana had informed him she had not seen the shooter, but she suspected it was a police officer from Vosloorus.

“I think the family of that woman or the woman herself said that he is dangerous that man. Something of this person being a high-ranking officer‚” Mashamaite was heard saying.

At the time‚ he had been positioned at the Dawn Park police station while Mdluli was the head of the Vosloorus police station.

The so-called confrontation Mashamaite had with Kholeka was also not heard on the recording.

Instead‚ he was heard telling Kholeka that her tone made him “scared”.

Returning to the stand‚ Mashamaite said he was unaware the consultation had been recorded.

“I am not saying that there were portions edited, but with due respect‚ there are things which were said but cannot be heard on the recording‚” Mashamaite said.

Ike Motloung‚ for Mdluli‚ tried to discredit the recording‚ saying it was possible it had been tampered with.

Judge Rata Mokgoatlheng‚ however‚ was not convinced.

He replayed the audio‚ saying he wanted to “make out whether there is a sequence in the discussions”.

Mdluli is currently on trial alongside former policeman Mthembeni Mthunzi.

The pair face charges of intimidation‚ kidnapping and assault of friends and family of Buthelezi and her lover Oupa Ramogibe.

They have also been charged with defeating the ends of justice.

Mdluli paid lobolo for Buthelezi who is the mother of his child.

It later emerged‚ however‚ that Buthelezi had gotten into a relationship with Ramogibe and the pair secretly married.

Ramogibe was later shot dead on February 17 1999. This was shortly after reporting to police he had received death threats‚

Mdluli and Mthunzi have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case continues.

... There are “things which were said but cannot be heard on the recording