By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Defence lawyer adv Zandile Mshololo argued that the non-disclosure of the second Senzo Meyiwa killing case docket, which recommended the prosecution of singer Kelly Khumalo and others, has delayed the murder trial and “violated” the accused’s constitutional rights.
When proceedings were postponed on Friday, Mshololo, addressed the court on a second docket on the murder of Meyiwa.
In that docket his girlfriend, Khumalo, his mother and sister Gladness and Zandi, Longwe Twala and a neighbour accused of cleaning up the house before police could arrive, Maggie Phiri, are among the accused.
She has questioned how the Pretoria wing of the NPA could call for the prosecution of her client and the four other men currently standing trial while the Johannesburg wing would want the Khumalo’s and others to be prosecuted.
Mshololo received confirmation that the second case docket was authentic and that a draft charge sheet in the file, which recommended charging seven people who are not before the court, was valid.
She represents the fifth accused in the trial, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
The first four accused — Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Ncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa — are represented by advocate Dan Teffo.
Mshololo told the Pretoria high court on Monday that state prosecutor George Baloyi was “lying” when he said she was aware of the second case docket when the trial began in April.
On Monday, Baloyi said Mshololo had “castigated the state” by saying the prosecution had “brought the trial to shame” by only disclosing the second docket to Mshololo last Wednesday.
Baloyi said Mshololo was mistaken in referring to the Gauteng NPA’s letter recommending the charging of the seven people in the second docket as “a decision” of the NPA. He said the prosecution recommendation was “a memorandum”.
In a document handed to court on Monday and signed by Andrew Chauke, the NPA provincial head said the draft charge sheet was only “an opinion”.
“The alleged documents [charge sheet] do not have any status as such was an internal opinion from a junior state advocate, which was without merit,” Chauke contends in the letter, which was read in court by Baloyi.
After reading the letter, Baloyi said it “boggles the mind” that Mshololo would see the charge sheet as a decision, and asked that she withdraw her assertion that the state had brought the trial to shame.
Five men are standing trial for the 2014 crime.
Meyiwa was shot dead at the Vosloorus home of his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo in 2014.
Eight years later, a trial is finally under way but the defence believes that the wrong suspects are in the dock.
Mshololo said even if she was aware of the second docket, that still did not mean it had been disclosed to her and her client. The non-disclosure was a violation of Ntuli’s constitutional rights because the state had been aware of the docket since January and also knew that Teffo had received it in March, she said.
“My lord, I was not present during the handover of the second case docket … After that, the trial started on 11 April. When the trial started, the state had not disclosed to me the second docket.
“The trial is now going to be delayed because of the non-disclosure of the state, Mshololo said.
In opposing the postponement, Adv Teffo has now claimed that the wrong court is hearing the trial, challenging the jurisdiction, and further claiming two of the accused were arrested and detained unlawfully.
Teffo started his argument by delivering a tirade against the court, accusing Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela of excluding defence counsel from proceedings and being disrespectful towards him.
He further claimed that his client’s rights were being deliberately violated which would lead to the collapse of the decorum of the court.
The main thrust of Teffo’s argument was that the High Court in Pretoria did not have the jurisdiction to hear the trial and as a result did not have the power to postpone the matter.
The matter was postponed to Tuesday for court to decide on the next block of trial dates. Baloyi said the preliminary dates would be 4 to 16 September, and then 4 to 14 November.
Livestream Video Below.
Video Courtesy of SABC.