Johannesburg - The Senzo Meyiwa murder trial got off to a swift start in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday under the leadership of newly appointed Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng.
Judge Mokgoatlheng who took over from Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela who fell ill, wasted no time in informing the five men on trial for the October 2014 murder of the Orlando Pirates soccer player that an order had been made on Friday nullifying the previous trial.
Both the State and defence legal counsels confirmed that they were aware of the order. However, they requested that the matter be postponed to tomorrow
in order for the legal counsel to confirm certain documents with legal aid and for a pre-trial conference to be held.
Judge Mokgoatlheng was not too keen on the postponement, stating that all parties were before the court and in the interests of expediency, he would request that the registrar come to court for the outstanding documents and for the pre-trial to continue today.
He stressed that he did not see the need for a long adjournment of the matter as the charge sheet was still the same as before, save for a few amendments, including the witnesses to be called.
With the trial starting afresh, the five men – Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifisokuhle Ntuli – are yet to plead to the new indictment.
The legal counsel acting for the five men, however, stressed that before they could proceed with the trial, they required time to conduct the pre-trial conference with the State to be able to take further instructions from their clients.
In postponing the matter, the presiding judge continued to highlight that what happened in the trial to date had to be left in the past.
“I have to advise that you have a right to apply for bail and what happened in the past is the past.
“The only caveat is that should you wish to apply for bail, it cannot be heard in this court and arrangements will have to be made for another judge to hear the application.”
The trial will resume tomorrow.
The Star