Senzo Meyiwa – how the police got it right

CALM DOWN: OFFICIALS DEFEND DECISION TO DROP CHARGES

Need for more evidence due to clashing witness accounts.

When news emerged on October 26 of Bafana Bafana captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa’s death, South Africans howled for the killer’s head on a platter.

When the charges were withdrawn against the only suspect the police arrested, stunned South Africans, many initially dishing out praise at a successful arrest, were left feeling cheated. Headlines screamed that police were “left red-faced” after “bungling” the investigation.

“People have to remember it is not the job of the police to prosecute,” said spokesperson Brigadier Neville Malila. “It was the job of the police to gather evidence and present that to the prosecutor, who then makes a decision on whether to prosecute.

“On Thursday we held an identity parade where some of the witnesses pointed out Zanokuhle Mbatha. We discussed the matter with the prosecutor, who decided, prima facie, there was enough to charge Mbatha,” he explained.

Following Mbatha’s initial appearance, police had to gather more evidence around Mbatha’s alleged involvement, but could not choose to ignore evidence pointing to the contrary.

When this happened,

the prosecution rightly temporarily dropped the charges against Mbatha, Malila said.

“It doesn’t mean he is off our radar, ” he cautioned.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Nathi Mncube said it had never received a case good enough to immediately proceed with.

Mncube did not want to disclose all that had occurred, but did say there were inconsistencies in the witness statements. That led to the case against Mbatha being withdrawn.

“After it was placed on the roll we said: ‘Go back and check on some things. This witness says the guy had a gold tooth, the other witness does not say anything about that,’” said Mncube.

“We had a prima facie case because of the identification parade, but there were things in the wit-

We would defeat the ends of justice if we had a prima facie case and did not place it on the roll Nathi Mncube NPA spokesperson

Picture: Gallo Images WITHDRAWN. The charges against Zanokuhle Mbatha (pictured), the man arrested in connection with Senzo Meyiwa death, were dropped for the time being due to insufficient evidence.