By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Senzo Meyiwa murder trial State witness Tumelo Madlala has continued to struggle to recollect crucial information about the night the soccer star was killed.
Madlala was inside the Vosloorus home of Kelly Khumalo on the night Meyiwa was shot, but repeatedly refused to indicate any specific times, or stand by the many statements he earlier made to police.
He nonetheless indicated that those were indeed his statements, and that he was happy with them, hence he signed them.
Under cross-examination by legal counsel of accused one to four, advocate TT Thobane, he was aggressive and evasive and adamantly refused to give exact times despite what was written in his statements.
In fact, Meyiwa’s friend went as far as telling the court that he did not look at the time and wasn’t good with estimations. He alleged that police had “forced” him to estimate the times.
He could not recall the time he left Durban for Johannesburg to meet Meyiwa, neither could he recall what time the soccer player picked him up upon his arrival.
He was also not able to give an estimation of the time the intruders barged in nor how long the soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea that they were watching had played for.
Another issue raised was how much he had been paid by Netflix for pictures and interviews regarding Meyiwa. He replied that the counsel should rather ask the company and not him.
He did, however, insist that although he could not recall the attire of the intruders, he was certain that Bongani Ntanzi was one of the intruders who came in on the night Meyiwa was killed.
Ntanzi, the second accused in the case, was first identified by Madlala during his appearance in September as the man who wrestled with Meyiwa.
Advocate Zandile Mshololo, the defence lawyer for accused number five, on Tuesday, grilled Madlala on his testimony at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
In his examination in chief by the State, Madlala had testified that he didn’t have any money to travel to Johannesburg to visit his friend.
He also said Khumalo gave him money to travel back home to KZN a few days after Meyiwa was killed.
Advocate Mshololo challenged Madlala on his version of events in her cross-examination.
“How come you did not have money to travel to Johannesburg because it was on the same day that you had received your salary?” Mshololo asked.
Madlala admitted that when he arrived in Gauteng he had already been paid on 25 October 2014, from his job as a general worker at a local school in Durban.
At that time, I was injured and Senzo was the one who sent me money. I never asked him to send me money, he volunteered to,” he said.
Madlala also could not recall how long he stayed at Khumalo’s Mulbarton townhouse in the south of Johannesburg after the soccer star was killed.
The singer stayed with Meyiwa in the townhouse.
“I don’t recall the time I spent at Kelly’s place after the incident… If I’m not mistaken, I think it was three or four days.”
Advocate Mshololo also questioned Madlala on his relationship with the Meyiwa family.
Madlala revealed that after the soccer player was murdered, there was a rift between him and the family, especially with Meyiwa’s late father, Samuel.
“My relationship with the family was alright but things changed when Senzo was killed. Senzo’s father once came looking for me and found my then-girlfriend and started shouting and insulting her.
“I also remember travelling in a car with Senzo’s brother, Sifiso, and I greeted his mother, but she did not greet me back and I don’t know why,” Madlala said.
Advocate Mshololo asked him: “Is it not because they were accusing you of not revealing the truth about this case?”
“I don’t know if they were accusing me of anything,” Madlala said in response.
Madlala was also grilled on whether he was sober on the night that Meyiwa was killed.
He admitted that he and Meyiwa had consumed alcohol, but insisted that he could still remember accused number two, Ntanzi, as the alleged hitmen the soccer player allegedly pinned against the wall at the Khumalo house.
However, Advocate Mshololo was not convinced by his answer.
The trial is expected to resume on Wednesday morning, with Advocate Mshololo continuing her cross-examination of Madlala.
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Video Courtesy of ENCA.