A police officer testified that there were attempts to kill him after he exposed the five men linked to the murder of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Constable Sizwe Zungu testified at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.
He only submitted his statement on May 31, 2023, as he was fearing for his life.
Zungu said he had suspicions that the accused might be linked to the murder of Meyiwa and raised those concerns in 2018 with Major General Vincent Leshabane, who was his cluster commander at the time.
He said Leshabane promised to look into the allegations, and after some time, he informed him that his suspicions were true.
However, he said Leshabane told him they should not speak about the matter again, saying this was for his own safety.
Sometime in November 2019, he was targeted by the families of accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, and accused number five, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
According to his testimony, he said the incident happened on November 18, 2019.
"It was early in the morning, and I was going to the shop to get something, and I saw their car parked on the side of the road.
"Inside, I noticed that there was Nkazimulo. He is a relative to accused numbers one and five. A young man from Ntuli’s family was the one who pointed a gun out of the window, but he was slow, and I managed to turn back," he said.
Zungu said he called Leshabane to inform him of what happened and then went to see him the next day.
He said Leshabane told him that they should drop this because it would put his life in danger.
According to him, the attempt to end his life stopped after he spoke to accused number one, Sibiya.
He met with Sibiya during a family wedding and asked him why his family wanted to kill him. Sibiya told him that this was about the Meyiwa matter.
Sibiya then told him this was a serious problem and they should not talk about it recklessly.
He then asked Sibiya to speak to his family so that they could stop targeting him.
According to Zungu, the conversation he had with Sibiya convinced him that they had killed Meyiwa.
He said he also conducted his own investigation and was certain that they had indeed killed Meyiwa.
Earlier, Zungu testified that he was visiting his nephew at a hostel in Vosloorus when three of the five men came running, looking scared and carrying guns, on the night of the murder.
He said it was Sibiya, accused number two, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, and accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube.
The men walked into his nephew Gwabini’s room.
He followed them to the bedroom and saw Sibiya and Mncube carrying guns. Ntanzi did not have a gun.
The two men then gave Gwabini the guns for safe-keeping.
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.
Zungu will continue with his testimony on Friday.
IOL
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