Five men standing trial for the murder of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
A close friend of Senzo Meyiwa has described the chaos that ensued shortly after the soccer star’s wife arrived in hospital on the night he was gunned down.
Tumelo Madlala on Wednesday resumed his testimony in the Pretoria High Court in the murder trial against the five men accused of killing the former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper.
Meyiwa was gunned down during an alleged botched robbery on 26 October 2014, at the house belonging to Kelly Khumalo’s mother, in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.
Khumalo was Meyiwa’s girlfriend at the time of his murder and they shared a child together.
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Madlala was among the seven witnesses who were inside the house on that night and he was visiting from KwaZulu-Natal.
Madlala testified that when Mandisa Meyiwa arrived in hospital, upon hearing news about her husband being shot, she apparently got into an intense scuffle with Khumalo.
“The hospital was full and even Mandisa arrived, but I don’t know who she was with. There were also a lot of soccer players from Orlando Pirates.
“Thereafter, there was a lot of chaos near the glass doors at the entrance of the hospital. I’m not sure but I think Mandisa and Kelly were at each other, and there was even hair lying on the floor,” Madlala said.
When presiding Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela asked Madlala whether it was hair or a wig he saw on the floor, he said could not recall, but he thinks it was braided hair pieces that fell after Kelly and Mandisa fought.
“I don’t know whether it was Mandisa or her friends she was with, hence I’m saying it was just chaotic and I also saw hair lying on the floor.”
Tumelo Madlala
Earlier, Madlala testified that when they rushed Meyiwa to hospital, they requested a stretcher for the soccer star.
He said after Meyiwa was admitted into the emergency room, the people who accompanied him to hospital remained on the hospital benches waiting for news about his condition.
After a short while, a nurse came carrying a picture of an X-ray, Madlala said.
The nurse then requested for an elderly person to come forward and this was when Khumalo’s mother, Ntombi, was informed that Meyiwa had died.
“She came back crying and informed us that Senzo had passed away and everyone started crying… I then asked to go and see him,” Madlala said.
Madlala described what he saw when he went to view Meyiwa’s body:
“He was lying on a stretcher covered and facing upwards. When I went to view him for the second time, I went alone but Kelly followed me because everybody didn’t want to come.
“When I arrived I was crying… The nurses wanted us to leave and I kissed him on his forehead and then Kelly removed his watch as he was lying on the stretcher.”
Sifisokuhle Ntuli, Muzikawukhulelwa Sthemba Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Ncube and Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa are facing a string of charges in connection with Meyiwa’s 2014 murder.
The group has pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and have all been denied bail.
The trial continues.
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