Accused ‘supplied guns’
MEYIWA CASE: NTANZI DESCRIBED AS A ‘WELL-KNOWN’ FIREARM DEALER
Dispute over dockets involving alleged crimes committed.
Police dockets implicating the men accused of killing former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa came into sharp focus in the High Court in Pretoria yesterday.
The murder trial was delayed due to a dispute between the state and defence over dockets involving alleged crimes committed by accused two, Bongani Ntanzi.
The court previously heard Ntanzi was being investigated by the police in connection with Meyiwa’s murder when it was discovered that he was a suspect in a drug dealing case in Vosloorus and murder case in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) prior to his arrest on 16 June, 2020.
According to the Nongoma case docket, the accused was convicted in March 2022 on six counts, including a life sentence for murder and seven years for attempted murder.
Yesterday, Ntanzi’s lawyer, Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, questioned how his client was implicated in the murder case.
“There’s only one statement [that mentions Bongani Ntanzi] by Simphiwe Buthelezi who talks about something he overheard,” the defence lawyer said.
The police’s lead investigator Brigadier Bongani Gininda disagreed, saying the statement made a mention of murders and firearms, which then linked Ntanzi.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng asked Gininda to read Buthelezi’s statement into the record.
In the document, Buthelezi, who died in 2022, described Ntanzi as a “quiet gentleman” who was a “well-known” firearm supplier.
According to the statement, Buthelezi heard Ntanzi talking to his co-accused, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, over the phone about the murder of a union member in Marikana, North West, while visiting him.
Reading the statement, Gininda said: “I asked him [has] he also started killing people and he said to me it is a man’s job that he had to do because he needs money. I warned him about it. Bongani used to keep a small quantity of firearms and ammunition in his room and the roof of his room.”
Buthelezi stated that he discovered that Ntanzi and his co-accused were implicated in Meyiwa’s murder in 2020.
The statement further revealed that Buthelezi was the person who took the police to Phokeng, where Ntanzi lived, thus leading to his arrest.
Meanwhile, Mngomezulu told Gininda that the police unlawfully arrested Ntanzi so they could solicit a confession from him.
The defence lawyer insisted his client was interrogated about Meyiwa’s murder, rather than the Nongoma murder case a day after his arrest. But Gininda said the accused was questioned about different cases, including the Nongoma matter.
A trial-within-a-trial has been taking place to determine the admissibility of confession statements, pointing out and warning statements by the accused.
The state has claimed Ntanzi made a confession about his alleged involvement in Meyiwa’s murder at the station before Colonel Moholo Raphadu at the Moroka Police Station in Soweto on 19 June, 2020.
Five days later, the second confession statement was taken down by Magistrate Vivian Cronje in the presence of his lawyer, Dominic Mjiyako, at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court.
The defence has, however, claimed that Ntanzi had no attorney present on the day and that the accused was tortured by law enforcement officers before the confession was made.
Ntanzi, Maphisa, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Mncube and Fisokuhle Ntuli are on trial for Meyiwa’s murder.