Cop assaulted people, says Senzo Meyiwa trial witness
‘We’re in this fiasco of many dockets because of her lies’
An investigator in the second docket related to the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial allegedly assaulted people who were in the house on the night of the shooting and “is behind the fabrication’’ of false statements that people in the house killed the soccer star.
This is what state witness Tumelo Madlala told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday during his cross-examination by lawyer for accused number five, Adv Zandile Mshololo.
Mshololo asked Madlala if Lt-Col Joyce Buthelezi had taken a statement from him after the incident.
Madlala said Buthelezi took his statement and placed him in a witness protection programme.
He said Buthelezi also took a statement from Meyiwa’s close friend Mthokozisi Twala before taking him to Pretoria where he was assaulted by the police.
When Sowetan asked Buthelezi about the allegations, she said she cannot speak to the media because she is still going to testify in the trial.
“She [Buthelezi] is the one who took me to the protection programme and she also took me to Senzo’s gravesite. I don’t know why she was doing that. I don’t know if she wanted me to confess or say something about the case that will benefit her,’’ said Madlala.
“She also went to Mthokozisi and took him to Pretoria where he was beaten until he wet himself. She is not a nice woman. Many people were assaulted because of her instructions. I saw her as a mother but she is full of lies.
“We are in this fiasco of many dockets because of her lies. She is the one who is making people make false statements,’’ said Madlala.
In the second docket, opened in January 2019, Kelly Khumalo and all those who were in the house the night Meyiwa was killed are the accused.
Madlala was one of the people who were present when Meyiwa was shot and killed in his girlfriend Khumalo’s family house in 2014.
Other people in the house during the fatal incident were Twala, Khumalo, her two children, her sister Zandi, their mother Gladness and Longwe Twala.
Earlier, Mshololo read out a statement by Meyiwa’s brother-in-law Mlungisi Edward Hlophe made in 2019, who said on the night of the shooting Madlala told him Meyiwa tried to break up a fight between Zandi and Longwe.
“He told me that there was a fight at Kelly’s house between Zandi and her boyfriend.
“Senzo was trying to separate the two. I asked Tumelo who Zandi was and he said she is Kelly’s sister. Our conversation ended there,’’ read the statement.
Madlala said: “This is the first time I see this statement. If he called me in 2014, why did he make this statement in 2019? He is lying when he says he called me and I know it is Buthelezi who is behind this false statement. Buthelezi even told me Hlophe will shoot me. There was never a fight between them.’’
Mshololo also read out a statement made by one of Khumalo’s neighbours, Khaya Ngcatshe, who said he heard a loud commotion and people shoving each other in the house. He said this was followed by a gunshot.
“I don’t know who shot Senzo or how he was shot,’’ Madlala responded.
Today, prosecutor George Baloyi will continue his crossexamination of Madlala.