By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Senzo Meyiwa’s friend couldn’t hold back the tears as he told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria how he was beaten and tortured to confess to the murder of the Bafana Bafana captain.
The trial is being heard in the Pretoria High Court, where five men stand accused of Meyiwa’s murder in October 2014 at Khumalo’s home.
Mthokozisi Thwala spent a second day on the witness High Court in Pretoria.
Thwala told the court he was tortured in January 2019 after he was picked up by then-Colonel Joyce Buthelezi and a police officer named Makhubo.
He said he was initially under the impression that he would take part in an ID parade in Durban.
Thwala claimed he was then told the venue would change and he would do the ID parade in Joburg.
However, he ended up in Pretoria in the office of Colonel Buthelezi, where he was tortured and beaten to a pulp.
“He said the men took turns assaulting him and asked him why he killed Meyiwa.
“They just kept assaulting me and they told me I would eventually confess to what they were accusing me of. I was screaming as they assaulted me,” he said.
He says the beating lasted for an hour.
Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela had to briefly adjourn the session to give Thwala time to compose himself as he was in tears.
Upon his return, Thwala went into detail of how he was tortured “mercilessly”.
“When they came back with the bag, I asked myself what the bag is for because I was still seated in the corner. When they entered with the bag I was asking myself what was in the bag.
“One of them took out a big rope that’s normally used to tie around a cow when it’s about to be slaughtered. Then from there, they took out a mat because they tied my hands and legs together on my back. Then they placed the mat underneath my private parts. They knew that I would urinate on myself because that is what I did.”
He said after the ordeal was finished he asked the police to take him to his aunt’s place in Katlehong. Instead, he was taken to where Meyiwa was killed in Vosloorus.
He said Buthelezi forced him to change his statement on how the events unfolded on the day of the shooting.
“You jumped there, “she told me.
“No, I jumped there, “I told her.
“I kept explaining to her that I ran out of the house and jumped over the gate into this yard.”
He said Buthelezi eventually took him to Katlehong and then came back and took him to KwaZulu-Natal.
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Video Courtesy of SABC.