A police officer from the National Cold Case Unit of the SA Police Service, Sergeant Vusumuzi Mogane, had his testimony placed under scrutiny after the defence unearthed inconsistencies during cross-examination.
Mogane was under cross-examination on Wednesday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
He was explaining the routes and stops they made when transporting one of the five men accused of killing Senzo Meyiwa.
According to accused number two, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, while police were escorting him, they made several stops where he was beaten and suffocated so that he could confess to Meyiwa’s murder.
On Tuesday, Mogane testified using the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) report, which had data on the car’s movements.
According to Mogane, most stops were made to get refreshments and food.
However, on Wednesday, when he was under cross-examination by Ntanzi’s legal representative, advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, Mogane gave contradicting statements.
Initially, Mogane said the car was fresh from service, and he even violated the speed limit several times because the car was fresh and easy to drive.
But when Mngomezulu asked him why the car had stopped for 12 minutes at an industrial park in Krugersdorp, Mogane said he went to a filling station to check the tyres because he felt like the car was not balanced.
When asked about another stop, which was over 20 minutes, Mogane said that as he was driving after checking the tyres, he smelled some smoke coming out of the car and went into another filling station to check what was happening.
Upon inspecting the vehicle, he found that the car had issues.
“When I opened the bonnet, I saw that the oil was low. I filled up the engine with oil and started the vehicle, but when I tried driving away, the wheels were stiff. I then switched it off for a while to cool off; hence, I stopped a bit longer,” he said.
Mngomezulu said this long stop and filling station was consistent with where Ntanzi said they stopped and severely assaulted him.
He further asked Mogane why the vehicle was having so many problems if it was serviced like he had said.
“A vehicle is like a human being; it’s unpredictable, and it has its own illnesses,” Mogane replied.
Mogane will continue with his evidence on Thursday.
IOL