By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State witness Gideon Gouws was expected to be cross-examined on cellphone data and records when the Senzo Meyiwa Murder Trial resumes in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday morning.
However the murder trial was again postponed on Thursday as the defence lawyers clashed with the state over documents that were either yet to be sent to the defence or sent late.
The defence told the court they could not proceed as some of the documents were yet to be sent, while others were sent on Wednesday night.
Gouws had previously told the court that accused number five, Fisokuhle Ntuli, had communicated with Meyiwa’s then-girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, twice just before he was killed.
According to State Advocate George Baloyi, some of the documents include statements from Vodacom in Gauteng, allegedly showing that from 2018, there was communication between some of the accused.
Defense lawyer for accused number five Zandile Mshololo accused the state of not being honest about needing more time to investigate and compile all the necessary documents.
This morning, I received another bundle of documents from the state, which I have not been able to read. I can see also the email was sent last night at 23:00, of which I was told not to sleep until I received it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read overnight,” said Mshololo.
“I would like to place it on record that this is trial by ambush. Yesterday I had the whole day to consult with my client on the documents the state is planning to use.
“However, the documents were not supplied to me. What is very bad about this trial is that the state is dishonest with this court.
The state is not telling the court the truth that they need time to investigate and compile all the necessary records that are supposed to be supplied to the defense so that we are able to consult properly and be able to run with this trial.”
Baloyi did not take kindly to Mshololo’s accusations.
“I strongly object to the language used by my learned friend that we’re dishonest. We are officers of this court, we have never been dishonest,” he said.
English is not our language, but I want to believe that’s not what my learned friend is implying.
“The state is honest, my lord. I’m changing from dishonest to honest, the state is honest,” sarcastic Mshololo hit back.
“This makes it difficult to us. The supply of documents in pieces is affecting the whole process. Today we’re given this, tomorrow we’re given something else, and we’ll even be surprised with other documents as well.
“We received documents last night and today, we’re expected to be ready with them. If the state is saying they’re not dishonest, then they’re honest.”
Five men are on trial for the gunning down of the Bafana Bafana captain at singer Kelly Khumalo’s parental home in Vosloorus east of Johannesburg in October 2014.