Senzo Meyiwa trial: Case postponed until Wednesday

The murder trial of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa has been postponed because the court interpreter was unavailable on Tuesday morning.

The court heard that while the services of a backup interpreter were secured, the person is based in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge and could not travel to Pretoria for trial, some 83km away.

The matter was stood down until tomorrow [Wednesday].

Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela said the postponement, even by a day, was unfortunate because delays are costly.

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Eyewitness Mthokozisi Thwala under cross exam

Eyewitness Mthokozisi Thwala, one of seven people in the house on that fateful night, is currently testifying in the case.

But he had a hard time convincing defence Advocate Sipho Ramosepele, who is representing two of the five suspects, about what transpired the night Meyiwa was killed.

The Bafana Bafana captain was shot dead in the family home of his then-lover and musician Kelly Khumalo in Vosloorus in October 2014.

Five suspects Bongani Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Ncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli are on trial for Meyiwa’s murder.

Ramosepele found Thwala’s version of events at odds with how a typical robbery would occur.

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What happened that night according to Mthokozisi Thwala

He told the court a pair of intruders entered the home through the kitchen door, demanding cellphones and money.

He described the first intruder as a man armed with a gun while a second invader was carrying a sharp object, which may or may not have been a knife.

Khumalo’s younger sister, Zandi, who was in the house at the time of the murder, was dating Longwe Twala, son of music legend Chicco Twala.

Thwala testified that Longwe had got up in the midst of the chaos, pushed the gunman aside and ran outside.

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Thereafter, Meyiwa and the others decided to take on the robbers before gunshots rang out.

Ramosepele, however, argued that the intruders would not let Longwe leave the house and would have attempted to restrain him while attempting to flee, either physically or using any of the weapons the two intruders carried on them.

Ramosepele pointed out that on Thwala’s version of events, it would mean that Longwe then failed to alert the police of the robbery. He then pressed on, saying Longwe was in the house at the time shots were fired.

Thwala stuck to his version, insisting that Longwe had escaped the scene. The trial continues on Wednesday.