By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Advocate Zandile Mshololo, the defence lawyer for one of the five men standing trial for the murder of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa, has abandoned her application challenging the non-disclosure of the controversial second docket in court records.
The five men on trial for the murder were arrested in May 2020. They all maintain they are innocent and claim that the actual killers are free.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) recently announced that the Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria would decide on a second docket in the case.
Yesterday, Mshololo made a special entry application to the court in which she said her client, Sifisokuhle Ntuli, was denied crucial information contained in the second docket, which could have helped him better prepare for his trial.
Mshololo told the court that the contents of the second docket 375/01/2019 which accuses Meyiwa’s girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, her mother Gladness, sister Zandile, Zandile’s then boyfriend Longwe Twala and two of Meyiwa’s friends of killing him, should have been given to her client before he pleaded to the charges.
She said her client would have pleaded differently had he known the contents of the second docket and also would not have chosen to exercise his right to remain silent.
Mshololo said the second docket is relevant to the court’s current proceedings as there is evidence in it and also in the first docket which was opened in 2014, the year Meyiwa was killed.
Mshololo said the second docket contains photos taken from the crime scene the day after Meyiwa was killed.
That information is crucial to this trial. The second docket contains the statement of Sgt Thabo Mosia who is testifying before this court. In that statement he is contradicting himself.
“The second docket contains the statement of Brig Philani Ndlovu… who has been referred by Mosia as somebody who played a role in the investigation of this matter.
Mshololo had argued the late disclosure of case 375, midway through the trial, had violated her client’s constitutional rights to a fair trial and prejudiced him from preparing a proper defence.
The State had opposed Mshololo’s special entry application, arguing that it was premature at this stage of the trial.
After meeting with presiding Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela on Tuesday morning, in his private chambers along with State prosecutor George Baloyi and instructing attorney Tshepo Thobane, Advocate Mshololo agreed to drop her application in the interest of the trial.
Judge Maumela agreed with the stance taken by Mshololo, saying the application would have been “an unwise use of time” due to the numerous delays that had affected the trial from proceeding.
“All four of us agreed that Mshololo is no longer going to pursue this application in the way that it was proceeding in the interest of saving time for better use of purposes of this case,” he said.
The judge also agreed that Thobane, who represents accused number one to four, would submit his heads of argument to the court record without making oral arguments.
He further acknowledged Mshololo’s concerns about the late disclosure of the second record by the State.
I note that the discovery for purposes of this case did not benefit all parties on an equal footing, specifically that Advocate Mshololo was left out in the sense of the timing that [the] discovery for her benefit was much later than sooner,” Judge Maumela said.
At the same time, Judge Maumela also ruled Brig Ndlovu’s statement could be read in court as part of Advocate Mshololo’s cross-examination of State forensic officer, Sgt Mosia.
Ndlovu was part of the initial police team in 2014 that investigated Meyiwa’s murder case and he is understood to have given Sgt Mosia instructions on the night he (Mosia) collected forensic evidence at Khumalo’s Vosloorus home in the East Rand.
Mshololo believes the affidavit would contradict some of the evidence already given in court by Mosia.
Judge Maumela postponed the trial to Wednesday morning for Advocate Mshololo to continue with her cross-examination of Sergeant Mosia.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of ENCA.