Senzo Meyiwa’s wife Mandisa Mkhize. File picture
PRETORIA - Senzo Meyiwa’s friend Tumelo Madlala told the High Court in Pretoria how a brawl broke out at the Botshelong Hospital in Vosloorus soon after the Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates ace goalkeeper was shot.
Madlala is the first witness among the people who were in the house when Meyiwa was shot during an alleged home invasion in October 2014, at the residence of his girlfriend and musician Kelly Khumalo.
Madlala described the ugly scene which followed when Meyiwa’s wife, Mandisa, arrived at the hospital.
“I was crying and I asked him, Senzo is this what you called me to come and witness? He was lying on a stretcher facing upwards. I kissed him on the forehead, and Kelly removed Senzo’s watch from his hand, and we left him in the room. The nurses led us to a waiting area with benches,” Madlala said.
“By that time, it became very full at the hospital. Even Mandisa, Senzo’s wife arrived. I do not know who she was with. Several soccer players from (Orlando) Pirates also arrived, many cars came in. It became chaotic by the glass doors of the hospital, I think Mandisa and Kelly were at each other. I saw hair lying on the floor.
“I do not know if it was Mandisa or her friend, but there was a fight. I then saw the hair,” Madlala said.
Asked by Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela to explain whether it was “hair or wig”, Madlala said it was braids commonly worn on top of hair.
On Tuesday, Madlala wept uncontrollably, forcing an early adjournment to his much-anticipated testimony in court.
Madlala flew in from Durban on Monday afternoon to give testimony in the high-profile murder case.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26, 2014 while in the company of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, the mother of his child.
In the house that day were Meyiwa, Kelly and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi Khumalo (MaKhumalo), Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
Five men, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifokuhle Ntuli, are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition.
All of the accused have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues.