Senzo Meyiwa trial: Tense standoff as witness insists travel records are with Saps

The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial seeks the records a police officer used to document his travels on the day the former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper died.

Constable Sizwe Zungu returned to the witness stand in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday for his cross-examination.

Zungu’s evidence has placed all the five accused at a hostel in Vosloorus on 26 October 2014, the day Meyiwa was shot and killed.

The police officer was visiting his nephew, Gwabini Zungu, who lived at the hostel.

Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli have been charged murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.

ALSO READ: Witness slammed for ‘withholding’ information about Senzo Meyiwa’s murder

Travel log book

Ntuli’s lawyer, Advocate Zandile Mshololo, on Tuesday quizzed Zungu about the sequence of events in leading up to the police officer chilling with the accused at the hostel.

Zungu, in his response, said he was on duty from 8am before he knocked off at 1pm.

The lawyer asked Zungu for the travel log book he used on the day in question since he was driving a state police vehicle.

“Can we get the log book of this vehicle to show that it travelled from Tembisa, as you have stated, to Johannesburg CBD and to Vosloorus?” Mshololo said.

READ MORE: ‘Why would I come and lie?’- Cop and lawyer clash over ‘hogwash’ in Senzo Meyiwa trial

Zungu pointed out that he gave his travel documents to his superiors at the Tembisa police station, but couldn’t confirm whether the records can be accessed since he doesn’t work in the police’s archives department.

Mshololo asked: “Is it your evidence that you can’t produce the documents that prove that you traveled [to the Vosloorus hostel]?”

“If you say that I cannot prove then it means that I won’t be able to retrieve the documents. They are in the hands of the Saps [South African Police Service],” Zungu responded.

The advocate told Zungu that her client denies being at the hostel or meeting him.

“He is lying,” the witness said.

Watch the proceedings below:

Mshololo further said: “I put it to you the reason you failed to execute your duties to assist police is because the incident at the hostel did not happen. You fabricated a story later.”

But Zungu dismissed Mshololo’s notion.

The police officer was also adamant that there were threats to his life even though he didn’t report the incident to the police.

“I already knew who they were and it was because of this case,” he said on Tuesday.

Zungu revealed in court on 11 September that he called Sibiya after there was an attempt on his life.

He indicated that the suspects, who brandished a firearm through the car window, were related to Sibiya.

Defence probes firearm claims

Mshololo questioned Zungu about why he handed over his state firearm to Gwabini.

“Between the two of you who had a licence to possess the same firearm that was allocated to you?” she asked, but Zungu chose not to answer the question.

Mshololo had earlier stated that it was “wrong” for Zungu to give his firearm to a person who wasn’t licensed to handle a gun.

However, state prosecutor, George Baloyi objected, saying Mshololo’s line of questioning may incriminate the witness.

Judge Ratha Mokgatlheng had also intervened, asking Mshololo whether she knew Gwabini indeed did not have a firearm licence.

“He never said that Gwabini did not have a licence. I can’t allow to make a statement which was made by this witness,” Mokgatlheng said.

Zungu previously testified that he saw the accused exchanging firearms with Gwabini in his room, which was done shortly after Sibiya, Ntanzi, and Mncube returned to the hostel.

The witness told the court the exchange made him suspicious because the three suspects were gone for “some time” on the day Meyiwa was killed.

According to Zungu, Sibiya and Mncube were the ones carrying a .38 Special Revolver and a 9mm Parabellum pistol respectively.

His own state firearm was also in Gwabini’s room.

Asked by Mshololo why he didn’t report the incident to the police or make any arrests himself, Zungu said: “There was no need for me to act immediately during that time because I did not have the evidence that you have today. There had to be investigations that had to be conducted by the police to ascertain what offence did they actually commit.”

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