By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
One of the people who were present when Senzo Meyiwa was killed conceded that the pictures of the crime scene taken by police are not a true representation of what the house looked like on the night he was killed.
Meyiwa’s childhood friend Tumelo Madlala has been testifying in the trial against the five men accused of the murder.
The men are accused of being behind a botched robbery that claimed the Bafana Bafana captain’s life.
Meyiwa was shot at the home of his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo in October 2014.
During his testimony, Madlala told the court that after he arrived in Johannesburg from Durban he, Meyiwa, Kelly Khumalo and her sister Zandi all went to a local tavern in Vosloorus where they bought alcohol.
The defence lawyer – for one of the five accused Fisokuhle Ntuli – Advocate Zandile Mshololo used this to question Madlala’s sobriety at the time of the crime casting doubt on whether he could have been able to identify the alleged intruders.
She has also pointed out how Madlala said they drank multiple cans of alcohol, while the police only found two cans on the scene.
“You had consumed more than that. The cans that are depicted there, they are not the true reflection of the empty cans you had consumed inside the house. It means they had been removed, the cans you had consumed inside the house, they had been removed by the time the police arrived,’” said Mshololo.
Madlala said he cannot deny that the scene was tampered with while he was at the hospital with Meyiwa.
Claims that a media house broadcasted footage of a State witness in the high-profile Senzo Meyiwa murder trial prompted the judge to clear the courtroom of all members of the media on Wednesday.
The court had earlier ruled his face should not be shown on camera or in photos while he is testifying in the murder trial.
On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela refused to let proceedings continue while the person responsible for broadcasting Madlala’s face was still present.
“That person, whatever the effect and the extent of the footage, that person should leave this courtroom now. If we don’t know who it is, all media are going out now.”
An outraged Maumela suggested that media houses should “sort it out through the night” and return on Thursday to reveal who revealed Madlala’s face on camera.
“We are not to sacrifice time for trial because of people who want to go sensational at the expense of the lives of other people. We can’t do that.”
Initially, prosecutor advocate George Baloyi told the court they had a meeting with various media houses and camera people, then looked at the live feed and found the footage did not appear on the live feed.
“A possibility has been mentioned that perhaps it is some manipulation or photoshopping,” Baloyi told the court.
However, footage of Maumela leaving his bench showed Madlala’s face was in fact broadcast briefly.
The court was supposed to proceed with advocate Zandile Mshololo’s cross-examination of Madlala.
In September, Maumela reprimanded journalists and issued them with written warnings after they allegedly harassed Madlala at court, chasing him and asking him questions before proceedings.