Johannesburg - The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has heard that a SIM swap was done on Senzo Meyiwa's cellphone number a day after he was killed.
This was according to the testimony of Colonel Lambertus Steyn, who is based at the National Cold Case Investigative Unit, where he is employed as a data analyst and investigations officer.
Steyn has been called to give expert analysis of the cellphone records and revealed shocking new information in the High Court yesterday.
Steyn told the court that not only was a SIM swap done in October 2014, but that eight calls were made from the SIM-swapped number to Meyiwa's girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo's, cellphone.
Steyn said these were eight calls between Kelly Khumalo and former Kaizer Chiefs football player David Mathebula on October 27, 2014, the day after the shooting.
When asked by Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng if he could confirm that it was between the two of them, Steyn confirmed saying that according to Section 205 of the court documents, he could.
Several attempts at communication were made to a number while Meyiwa was in hospital.
The downloaded call records showed the phone was “off” or “undefined” because there was no handset attached to it due to the SIM swap.
Clarifying what a SIM swap was, Steyn said it was to to obtain a new SIM card on the same number, adding that to do a SIM swap, identification was needed.
Steyn, who is an experienced analyst at the SAPS Cold Case Unit, first testified on Thursday that call records showed Khumalo had been in phone contact with one of the men accused of murdering the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper.
Meyiwa was brutally murdered while visiting his girlfriend and mother of his child, Khumalo, at her home in Vosloorus in October 2014.
The five accused are Muzikawukhulelwa Sthemba Sibiya, 34, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, 30, Mthobisi Prince Ncube, 36, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, 35, and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, 32.
Steyn also dropped another bombshell when he revealed that the gun-wielding, dread-locked intruder who entered the Vosloorus home of Khumalo has been identified as accused number three, Mthobisi Prince Mncube.
Mncube was identified in the court by Steyn.
He testified that he was requested to download photographs from Mncube’s cellphone following his arrest on another charge.
The officer told the court that Mncube was arrested at Cleveland police station for the illegal possession of a firearm.
As per standard police procedure, Steyn said the firearms acquired from suspects were usually taken to forensics, while cellphones were taken to the war room, where they downloaded and analysed them.
Following a request from Brigadier Gininda to go through the photographs downloaded from Mncube's phone, a few photos showed him sporting dreadlocks that were tied back in a ponytail.
The officer further explained how there were frequent incoming and outgoing calls between Mncube and the fifth accused, Sifisokuhle Ntuli.
Ntuli was also found to have been in contact with Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, the second suspect, as well as the first accused, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya.
Yesterday, the court heard how Ntuli had contacted Khumalo on at least two separate occasions prior to the shooting of Meyiwa on October 26, 2014.
The court heard that Ntuli contacted Khumalo on August 2, 2014, with the call lasting for 110 seconds, with a second call made on October 15, 2014, which lasted 96 seconds.
Steyn was called to testify as he was requested to profile all the targets and suspects identified by the investigating team which included the occupants of the house.
He was also requested to determine if there were any links or connections between the suspects in the dock and the occupants of the house on the night Meyiwa was shot and killed.
The trial resumes on Monday.