By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Muzi Sibiya, who is the accused number one in the Senzo Meyiwa trial, has been found guilty of possession of drugs and possession of illegal ammunition.
Sibiya has been acquitted on the alternative charge of selling drugs.
He will be sentenced on 18 January 2024.
Tembisa Magistrate’s Court initially postponed the case on the 1st of December due to Magistrate Jerome Josephs illness.
Sibiya returned to the dock in the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday to learn of his fate.
He was charged with dealing in drugs dating back to 2019. He was then re-arrested on the 30th of May 2020. At the time of his arrest, police found live ammunition in a black plastic bag.
A few hours after Sibiya’s arrest in 2020, he allegedly confessed to Meyiwa’s murder – a confession whose admissibility is now the subject of a trial-within-a-trial in the Pretoria High Court.
Sibiya has pleaded not guilty to Meyiwa’s murder and has denied he voluntarily confessed in relation to his murder, saying he was tortured and assaulted and was left with no option but to sign the confession statement to avoid further torture.
Delivering his judgment, Josephs noted the dispute regarding the events of Sibiya’s initial arrest.
“The only common cause in this case is that the accused was arrested on 19th of March 2019 for dealing or possession of an undesirable dependence-producing substance called heroin. He was also arrested a year later on the 30th of May 2020 on J50 warrant of arrest with a second charge added of possession of ammunition that was the only common cause between the parties.
The version of the prosecution witnesses was and is irreconcilable with the version of the accused. There’s a factual dispute between the version of the accused and that of the state witness if the accused was dealing or had in his possession any drugs or that he was in possession of ammunition. The version is mutually destructive to each other. The allegation by the state witness were outright denied by the accused,” Josephs said.
The magistrate pointed out that the state conceded that on the main count of dealing in drugs, it has not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Sibiya was indeed selling heroin on the day of his arrest.
“With this, their position and argument is still that they have proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was in possession of substance called heroin,” he continued.
Josephs said he was satisfied the drugs contained in the evidence bag before the court was the same substance, thus, rejecting the defence’s argument that it wasn’t.
He further dismissed the argument advanced by the defence that Sibiya was only arrested to be questioned on Meyiwa’s death on the day ammunition was found in his shack.
In light of this, the magistrate found Sibiya guilty on two counts including possession of drugs and the illegal possession of ammunition.
Sibiya is already serving 12 years for attempted murder.
In April last year, the suspect was convicted of attempted murder of Ntombenhle Ndaba and Mfanelo Mbatha after he randomly opened fire on them, but they survived the shooting.