‘They made me suspicious’: Cop says he was drinking with accused just before Senzo Meyiwa was killed

Police constable Sizwe Zungu provided incriminating testimony during the murder trial of Senzo Meyiwa on Thursday.

Zungu took the stand as a state witness in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.

During his testimony, Zungu claimed to personally know the accused. He referred to them as Muzi (accused 1), Mafika (accused 2), Gadla (accused 3), Mthokozisi (accused 4), and Nkani (accused 5).

Zungu said he knew accused 1 and accused 2 from KwaNongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, and knew accused 3, 4 and 5 from Vosloorus, Gauteng, where the former Bafana Bafana captain was killed in 2014.

Watch the proceedings here:

Receiving a phone call

The constable, who has been a police officer for 12 years, said the day before Meyiwa’s death he received a call from his brother’s son, Gwabini Zungu, around 7:15am, asking him if he could come to Vosloorus.

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“I received a call in the morning from my brother’s son Gwabini asking if I could come to Vosloorus. I told him it was too early in the morning and on that day I was going to work. I told him I would be able to go to him when I knock off work.

“He called again later that day to tell me that another relative of ours, Makhosonke Zungu, would be joining us from Rustenburg. After work, I called Makhosonke, and he told me he was in the Carlton Centre,” said Zungu.

He said they met at the Carlton Centre and they sat for a meal. They then received a call from Gwabini and met him at Sotho Hostel in Vosloorus.

Suspicious behaviour

Zungu said they sat inside the hostel, near a kitchen, where they started drinking.

He said there were many people around there, including accused 1, 2, 3 and 5, where they ate braai meat and drank alcohol.

Zungu said at around 8pm or 9pm, while he was sitting in the hostel, accused 1,2 and 3 came in following each other.

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He said they seemed scared because they rushed into Gwabini’s room, followed by Gwabini, and switched off the light.

Zungu said when he walked in the room, accused 1 and 3 had guns.

“I asked Gwabini about my firearm from work and he gave it to me,” said Zungu, who said he gave Gwabini his gun upon arriving at the hostel for safekeeping.

Zungu claimed he saw something suspicious was going on. He said the accused gave the guns to Gwabini and he asked Gwabini why he was issuing guns at the hostel.

“The manner in which they came in made me suspicious,” he said.

Changing clothes

Zungu said accused 2 changed from a black hoodie to a grey hoodie.

He said after the accused changed clothes, accused 1 asked: “Have you heard that Meyiwa is no more?”

“I disputed what he said and checked on social media but didn’t see anything. The next day I saw in the news that Meyiwa had been killed. I then realised that what accused 1 said was true. I read in the newspaper the descriptions of the accused and I realised that I saw them,” he said.

He said he suspected what he saw at the hostel was linked to Meyiwa’s murder.

Zungu alleged he called Major-General Vincent Leshabane to tell him what happened, and he went to see him the next day. He said Leshabane told him that he should drop the case because it would put his life in danger.

Zungu will return to court on Friday.

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