By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The lead investigator Brigadier Bongani Gininda has told the Pretoria High Court that only one docket exist in the Senzo Meyiwa trial.
Meyiwa was shot and killed while at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s parental home in Vosloorus, East Rand.
During the proceedings, Gininda started his testimony by clarifying issues around the infamous second docket (375).
Led by state prosecutor George Baloyi, Gininda was asked if he knew anything about a different docket in relation to the murder case.
“That case 375, it’s not a murder docket, it’s a defeating docket that was opened by warrant officer [Meshack] Makhubo. The only docket into the murder of Senzo Meyiwa is the one before court.”
Gininda told the court that this docket, which speaks to the alleged tampering of the scene, was opened by Lieutenant Colonel Joyce Buthelezi and Makhubo.
He added that it was opened in retaliation when they could not agree on whether there were intruders who murdered Meyiwa or if it was the people in the house.
“We got together and looked at these different views. I had the view together with Colonel Ramuhala that the evidence showed there were intruders, and it is based on that we went apart.
“We went in different directions, and that gave rise to the opening of the docket 375. I was not aware of it,” he said.
Gininda also has revealed that a police officer who claimed to be with the accused on the night the footballer was killed, gave the State its big break.
One of the witnesses who testified during the state’s case was Constable Sizwe Zungu, who claimed to have been at the Basotho hostel on the day Meyiwa was killed. Zungu said all of the accused were also there and were drinking.
Zungu also said the men then disappeared as the evening progressed and rushed back to the hostel later – where he saw them with guns.
Gininda said in 2019 while he was investigating the case, he received a call from then National Police Commissioner Kehla Sithole, who told him Zungu had some intel to share.
“He told me that his father was a direct witness to what he was telling me about…to say I have information…my father witnessed certain discussions that implicate two individuals and that is where the names of accused 1 and 2 came up.”
Zungu’s father would later make a statement under oath, detailing what he heard about the alleged involvement of the first two accused.
This would lead to the arrests and subsequent confessions by Muzi Sibiya and Bongani Ntanzi.
Five people were arrested in 2020 and are facing charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition.
The accused — Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, Sifisokuhle Ntuli, Sibiya, and Ntanzi — have entered not guilty pleas.