Court hears SIM swap was done on Senzo Meyiwa’s number after his murder and eight calls made to Kelly Khumalo

A SIM swap was done on Senzo Meyiwa’s phone number a day after he was shot and killed, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Friday.

Colonel Lambertus Steyn told the court that not only was a SIM swap done in October 2014, but that eight calls were made from the SIM-swapped number to Meyiwa's girlfriend Kelly Khumalo's cellphone.

Steyn said these were eight calls between Kelly Khumalo and David Mathebula who he said was also in the soccer fraternity on October 27, 2014, the day after the shooting.

When asked by Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng if he can confirm that it was between the two of them, Steyn confirmed by saying that according to Section 205 of the court documents, he could identify it was between them.

Several attempts at communication were made to a number while Meyiwa was in hospital.

The downloaded call records showed the phone was “off” or “undefined” because there was no handset attached to it due to the SIM swap.

Clarifying what a SIM swap is, Steyn said it was to to obtain a new SIM card on the same number, adding that to do a SIM swap, identification was needed.

Steyn, who is an experienced analyst at the SAPS Cold Case Unit, first testified on Thursday that call records that showed Khumalo had been in phone contact with one of the men accused of murdering the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper.

The five accused are Muzikawukhulelwa Sthemba Sibiya, 34, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, 30, Mthobisi Prince Ncube, 36, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, 35, and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, 32.

Earlier this week, the court heard from the State’s third witness Nthabiseng Mokete who told the court that she saw three men running separately after the 2014 shooting.

In October 2014, Meyiwa was brutally murdered while visiting his girlfriend and mother of his child, Kelly Khumalo, at her home in Vosloorus.

In the house that fateful day were Meyiwa, Kelly Khumalo and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother, Ntombi Khumalo, Longwe Twala; Meyiwa’s friends, Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.

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