‘Not even 10111’: Police weren’t called when Senzo Meyiwa was shot, court hears

More details emerged in the murder trial of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa, the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday.

Colonel Lambertus Steyn, who is a data analyst and investigations officer in the National Cold Case Investigative Unit of the South African Police Services (Saps), took the stand to be cross-examined by the defence on Monday.

The cross-examination comes after Steyn revealed the intriguing results of his analysis of data from the cellphones of the six people who were in the house when Meyiwa was shot during an alleged botched home robbery in 2014.

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The state’s fourth witness told the court last week Meyiwa’s then-girlfriend and singer Kelly Khumalo received two calls from Fisokuhle Ntuli, who is one of the five accused on trial.

The first call was made on 2 August 2014, followed by another on 15 October 2014, just a week before Meyiwa’s death.

Steyn received a CD containing the cellphone data and information about “targets” as well as a section 205 application from Brigadier Bongani Gininda in April 2020.

Section 205

During his cross-examination on Monday, Steyn explained police can only receive information of a particular cellphone when a section 205 application is filed.

The analyst agreed with Advocate Sipho Ramosepele, who is the lawyer for Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, that just because a certain phone was associated with a specific person did not mean that the owner made the call.

Ramosepele said: “More importantly the fact that a call was apparently made, the CDR [Call Detail Record] won’t show the contents of what was said?”

“That’s correct,” responded Steyn.

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Ramosepele said: “So in summary, what the CDR shows us is that one’s cellphone made a call to another that’s it?”

“That’s correct,” responded Steyn.

The lawyer argued making a call was not a criminal offence unless the contents of the call suggest otherwise, to which the investigating office agreed.

The analyst confirmed cellphone records showed Kelly or any other person who was present at the house where Meyiwa was shot did not call the police or emergency services on the night of the incident.

“I did check [and] I couldn’t find any number of the police, even 10111, from any of the phones in our possession which was on my analysis data base,” Steyn said.

No analysis

Steyn told the court he was given background information about Meyiwa’s murder when he was roped into the case.

He indicated no prior analysis was carried out on the cellphone data.

“I only received the raw data from the service providers. I didn’t receive any chart from other analysts,” Steyn said, adding that he did not question why the analysis was not done immediately after the shooting incident in 2014.

Steyn confirmed he also received the cellphone data of accused number one and two following their arrests in 2020.

“I did receive cellphone downloads as the case was being investigated,” he said.

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The investigating officer, however, said he could not obtain any conclusive evidence from the cellphone records.

“It was clear to me there wasn’t enough download evidence to analyse it… that’s why I didn’t mentioned anything in my testimony,” Steyn told the court.

He said he could not recall whether he had the cellphone data of state witness, Nthabiseng Mokete.

Mokete testified before the court last week and revealed she was in possession of two cellphones she borrowed to Kelly’s sister, Zandile, and Meyiwa’s friend Mthokozisi Thwala when they were at the Botshelong Hospital, where former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper died.

She indicated Longwe Twala’s father, Chicco, had called her phone, thus, meaning that either Zandile or Thwala sought to speak to him once it was established that Meyiwa had died.

But Steyn said on Monday he “cannot comment on anything that I wasn’t in my possession”.

Watch the proceedings below:

Charges

Meyiwa was shot dead at Kelly’s mother’s house in Vosloorus, east of central Johannesburg, on 26 October 2014.

Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa are on trial for the footballer’s murder alongside Ntuli and Sibiya and have pleaded not guilty.

They face charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicenced firearm, and possession of ammunition.

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