Pretoria - Senzo Meyiwa murder trial State witness Tumelo Madlala has continued to struggle to recollect crucial information about the night the soccer star was killed.
Madlala was inside the Vosloorus home of Kelly Khumalo on the night Meyiwa was shot, but repeatedly refused to indicate any specific times, or stand by the many statements he earlier made to police.
He nonetheless indicated that those were indeed his statements, and that he was happy with them, hence he signed them.
Under cross-examination by legal counsel of accused one to four, advocate TT Thobane, he was aggressive and evasive and adamantly refused to give exact times despite what was written in his statements.
In fact, Meyiwa’s friend went as far as telling the court that he did not look at the time and wasn’t good with estimations. He alleged that police had “forced” him to estimate the times.
He could not recall the time he left Durban for Joburg to meet Meyiwa, neither could he recall what time the soccer player picked him up upon his arrival.
He was also not able to give an estimation of the time the intruders barged in nor how long the soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea that they were watching had played for.
Another issue raised was how much he had been paid by Netflix for pictures and interviews regarding Meyiwa. He replied that the counsel should rather ask the company and not him.
He did, however, insist that although he could not recall the attire of the intruders, he was certain that Bongani Ntanzi was one of the intruders who came in on the night Meyiwa was killed.
Ntanzi, the second accused in the case, was first identified by Madlala during his appearance in September as the man who wrestled with Meyiwa.
Madlala said Ntanzi was the second intruder who entered the Vosloorus house demanding cash and cellphones and was pinned against the wall by Meyiwa.
Earlier, attorney Magdalene Moonsamy attempted to return to the trial on a watching brief on behalf of Khumalo. In a letter sent to the court secretary on November 1, Moonsamy requested to be allowed back into the proceedings and to be furnished with copies of the case dockets, transcripts of the proceedings so far as well as the documents pertaining to the bail application of Ntanzi.
At the beginning of the trial in April, Moonsamy was allowed to join proceedings on a watching brief, but was asked to “excuse herself” after the State said her presence could compromise the fairness of the trial because she would hear evidence before her client was called to the stand.
Despite the objection by Moonsamy, Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela at the time ruled that having Moonsamy present would compromise the impartiality of the trial.
In rejecting the application yesterday, Judge Maumela said he would not make another ruling as he had already made one regarding this matter which still stood and had to be observed by everyone in the matter.
The request was similarly objected to by the State, Thobane and advocate Zandile Mshololo, representing the fifth accused.
Thobane continues with his cross-examination today.
Pretoria News