By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The state’s first witness in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial – Zandile Khumalo – has denied claims that she was fighting with her boyfriend, Longwe Twala, on the night Meyiwa was shot and killed.
Khumalo is under cross-examination at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday in the trial of five men accused of killing Meyiwa in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, on 26 October 2014.
Defence lawyer Charles Mnisi put it to Khumalo a state witness would testify that he received a call from her sister, Kelly Khumalo, on the night of the shooting.
The witness allegedly said Kelly told him Meyiwa had been shot while trying to stop a fight between Zandile and Twala, the son of legendary musician Sello “Chicco” Twala.
“The state has provided us with a statement that it disclosed. Unfortunately, the name of the witness is not in the list of state witnesses. I presume the name of the witness is being withheld for security reasons.
This witness will come and tell this court that on the date of this incident, he got a call from your sister Kelly. Unfortunately, as she tried to explain what happened, the call got cut and they couldn’t reach her afterwards. The witness then called Tumelo Madlala [Meyiwa’s close friend] and told him Senzo was hit by a bullet and this happened as he was trying to stop a fight between yourself and Longwe. Do you have any comment on this? “asked Mnisi.
Khumalo denied the claims.
“Firstly, Longwe and I were not fighting,” she said. “We were very happy at the time and in a very good space. The fact that I invited him to my home, that means we were on good terms.
“What is being said by the witness I know nothing about,” she said.
State prosecutor advocate George Baloyi objected to the question put by the defence, saying there is no statement on record from the state that alleged this happened.
Baloyi asked the question be withdrawn from court record.
“We object to that question. If the question was based on that statement, we submit that it ought to be withdrawn.”
Mnisi told the court he was paraphrasing from a statement and agreed to withdraw the question, while insisting the witness would make the allegation.
In a twist of events, Zandile’s testimony that her sister, musician and socialite Kelly Khumalo, had good relationship with Meyiwa, came crumbling after messages revealed that Kelly actually regretted meeting Meyiwa.
Zandile was under cross-examination by advocate Zithulele Nxumalo who is representing one of the five men accused of killing Meyiwa during a botched robbery in 2014.
Nxumalo went into messages which Kelly had sent sometime in 2013 where the musician was complaining about Meyiwa.
“I regret everything, I wish I didn’t allow Senzo into my life look at all the mess it has gotten us into. It’s all his lies now affecting all of us,” read the message.
Nxumalo asked Zandile to explain what was happening when the message was sent.
“I’m not sure what was happening,” she replied.
Nxumalo asked clarity on the mess Kelly was referring to.
Zandile said Meyiwa was not an honest person, he lied to both Kelly and his wife, Mandisa Mkhize.
“He would be with Kelly and at times he would be with Mandisa and when he was with Kelly, he would say this and when he was with Mandisa, he would say something else, I think that’s what she was referring to.”
Nxumalo went on further and read a message where Kelly said Meyiwa had brought a dark cloud in her life.
I’m emotionally drained. I sometimes feel like Senzo brought a dark cloud in my life. And I can almost hate myself for not succeeding in getting rid of him via sms and the sms would not go….I feel like God is deliberately sabotaging me by keeping this man in my life, “read the message.
In explaining the message, Zandile said she doesn’t remember everything but she knows they had troubles because of the love triangle.
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