A statement incriminating five men in the murder of soccer star Senzo Meyiwa has come under sharp scrutiny from the defence as some of the names of the accused are mixed up, leaving the witness’s testimony with inconsistencies.
Constable Sizwe Zungu gave a damning testimony last week and said he saw the murder accused on the night of Meyiwa’s murder and had suspicions that the five accused might be involved in the murder.
On Monday, he sat for cross-examination in the North Gauteng High Court.
In his viva voce, he said that on the night of the murder, he saw accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya; accused number two, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi; and accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube coming to the hostel running and looking scared.
However, in his typed statement, it was captured that Sibiya, Ntanzi, and accused number five, Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, were the ones who came running.
Zungu said that he doesn't know how the mix-up happened because he was not the one typing.
"I was not the one typing; the typist was the one who made an error. But the content of the statement doesn’t change; what I have said is what happened. There’s just a mix-up of the names of accused one and five," he said.
Advocate Charles Mnisi, who represents accused number three, Mncube, hammered Zungu on the error and said how could it happen because he was the one giving the typist the names?
"Mr Mnisi, I see you like playing. I did explain that the names got mixed up. I see where you want to take me, but I am not going there," he said.
Mnisi said Zungu was finding it hard to explain the mix-up, and he was caught between a hard place and a rock.
"I will leave this for when I address the court during closing arguments because clearly, I will not get an answer from you as you are finding it difficult to explain how this mix-up happened," said Mnisi.
Earlier, advocate Sipho Ramosepele, who represents Sibiya and Ntanzi, briefly brought up the mix-up of the names to Zungu and asked him if he read the statement after he left.
Zungu said he only saw the mistakes when he got home and called the office to have the mistakes rectified, but it was not done.
He insisted that the mistakes are only in regard to the names and don’t have an effect on the events that transpired on October 26, 2014.
On Friday, Mnisi asked Zungu if he had written the statement somewhere first before it was typed. Zungu said he had notes in Gauteng and some in KZN.
On Monday, Zungu told the court that he went to KZN over the weekend but couldn’t find the notes.
State Prosecutor Advocate George Baloyi told the judge that he also contacted the investigating officer, who confirmed that the notes used to take Zungu’s statement were shredded.
In response, Mnisi said they were not requesting the notes but rather the actual handwritten statement that he had previously alluded to writing, not the typed one.
"We listened to the records, and it was confirmed. I am going to ask the court to consider what Zungu said. We are not requesting notes. The witness says he wrote a statement," argued Mnisi.
However, Mokgoatlheng ruled that there was no handwritten statement by Zungu and said the defence failed to prove the existence of the handwritten statement.
He said Zungu will be cross-examined based on the statement that was available in court.
Meyiwa was killed while visiting his singer girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, at her home in Vosloorus on October 26, 2014.
The five accused in the Meyiwa murder trial are Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli.
The trial will continue on Tuesday.
IOL