Meyiwa suspect had a cellphone while in detention
A RETIRED warden at Qalakabusha Correctional Centre testified that he confiscated a cellphone from one of the men accused of killing former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Sibusiso Yaka testified in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday, where he said he was the head of Qalakabusha prison in KwaZulu-Natal for seven years.
Yaka said that on August 19, 2020, he received a call from an unknown number and was told that Fisokuhle Ntuli had a cellphone in his cell.
State prosecutor advocate George Baloyi, who led Yaka in giving evidence, instructed him not to reveal who had called or the exact contents of the conversation.
“The information I received directed me to Ntuli’s cell and I went there. He was with two other inmates. I asked Ntuli to give me a cellphone, he didn’t give me any problems, he took it out from the side of the bed and gave it to me,” Yaka said.
He said he went to his superior and told him he was worried because it wasn’t known what Ntuli was discussing or planning.
He said on the day he found the phone, investigators in Meyiwa’s murder case were scheduled to come to the prison and when they arrived, he gave them them the phone.
He gave it to lead investigator Bongani Gininda who was in the company of officer Vusumuzi Mogane.
“The phone was placed in a plastic bag which was tightly sealed and handed to the investigators. We told the investigators to inform us whether Ntuli was plotting an escape so that we can tighten our security,” he said.
Yaka said he wasn’t sure about the model of the phone, but knew that it was a Stylo.
During cross-examination by Ntuli’s legal representative, advocate Zandile Mshololo, Yaka said he didn’t check the phone’s serial number.
“I didn’t even open it, I took it as it was and gave it to the investigators.”
Mshololo said Ntuli denied that he was found with a cellphone and maintained they were two in the cell and not three, as Yaka testified.
“I know who I got the phone from, I didn’t just pick it up. I told Ntuli to give me the phone and he gave me without an hesitation. Ntuli had a lot of respect for me and never gave me any issues,” Yaka said.
Asked if he recorded the incident, Yaka said he wrote it in the prison’s occurrence book.
“I’m no longer a member of the state so I can’t access the books because they belong to the state,” he said.
“Can the books be accessed upon request?” asked Mshololo. Yaka replied: “Yes, I think it’s possible.”
Meyiwa was killed at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s Vosloorus home on October 26, 2014.
The people who were in the house on the day Meyiwa was murdered, were Khumalo and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi, Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends,Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Khumalo’s then 4-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
The trial continues today.