By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
An investigator in the second docket related to the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial allegedly assaulted people who were in the house on the night of the shooting and ”is behind the fabrication” of false statements that people in the house killed the soccer star.
This is what state witness Tumelo Madlala told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday during his cross-examination by lawyer for accused number five Adv Zandile Mshololo.
Mshololo asked Madlala if Lt-Col Joyce Buthelezi had taken a statement from him after the incident.
Madlala said Buthelezi took his statement and placed him in a witness protection programme.
He said Buthelezi also took a statement from Meyiwa’s close friend Mthokozisi Twala before taking him to Pretoria where he was assaulted by the police.
“She [Buthelezi] is the one who took me to the protection programme and she also took me to Senzo’s gravesite. I don’t know why she was doing that. I don’t know if she wanted me to confess or say something about the case that will benefit her, ” said Madlala.
“She also went to Mthokozisi and took him to Pretoria where he was beaten and he wet himself. She is not a nice woman. Many people were assaulted because of her instructions. I saw her as a mother but she is full of lies. We are in this fiasco of many dockets because of her lies. She is the one who is making people make false statements,” said Madlala.
In the second docket, opened in January 2019, Kelly Khumalo and all those who were in the house the night Meyiwa was killed are the accused.
Madlala meanwhile has told the High Court earlier today that he could not give a detailed description for a sketch to be made of one of the alleged intruders who killed Meyiwa.
He wrapped up his testimony on Friday after weeks on the witness stand.
Madlala’s testimony was the first from a person who was present in the house when Meyiwa was killed, giving South Africans a clearer picture of what may have happened on that October night.
But his pointing out of accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, as one of the intruders was the bombshell in his testimony.
He insisted that he could identify Ntanzi even in the dark, 30 years from now.
But when he was asked whether he was able to describe him for police for a sketch to be made, he responded and gave a descrthatn which was not of Ntanzi, but of the second intruder who was allegedly with him.
This is interesting because Madlala had initially told the court that he could not remember what that intruder looked like.
The matter resumes on Monday, with a new witness expected to take the stand.
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Video Courtesy of SABC.