The five men accused of killing soccer star Senzo Meyiwa are (from left): Muzikawukhulelwa Sthemba Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Ncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli. File picture: Oupa Mokoena, Independent Newspapers
THE MURDER trial of then Bafana Bafana captain, Senzo Meyiwa, is expected to return to the High Court in Pretoria on Monday after two weeks of recess.
On Monday, the State and the defence will submit their final arguments following a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of confession statements made by the murder accused.
Five men - Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli - are standing trial for his murder.
Ntanzi and Sibiya claim they were severely assaulted by the police and were forced to sign confession statements implicating themselves and others in the murder of the former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper.
They were both arrested in 2020 but on different dates and in different areas. However, they gave the same version regarding how they were tortured and assaulted.
Sibiya was arrested on May 31, 2020, in Thembisa by a team of officers from the SA Police Service and the Ekurhuleni Metro Police.
Meanwhile, Ntanzi was arrested by police on June 16, 2020, in Phokeng, North West.
They both had the same legal representatives who spent over three months trying to cast doubt on the evidence which was presented by the police regarding what transpired when they were arrested.
They were represented by advocate Sipho Ramosepele and advocate Thulani Mngomezulu.
After all witnesses were done giving their testimony, Ntanzi and Sibiya took the stand and regurgitated some parts of what Mngomezulu had already told the court, however some parts did not match.
When they were probed about the contradictions by State advocate Ronnie Sibanda, both men threw Mngomezulu under the bus and said he misunderstood their instructions or they could not comment on what he had told the court.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26, 2014, while visiting his singer girlfriend Kelly Khumalo at her home in Vosloorus.
Lead investigator Bongani Gininda, who also testified during the trial within a trial, disputed claims that the two were assaulted and said they confessed through their own volition.
He added that their confessions matched the evidence they had.
Further more, their confessions implicated Khumalo in the murder of Meyiwa.
The police initially believed the Meyiwa murder was a robbery gone wrong, but investigations later led them to believe the former captain of the national soccer team was gunned down in a contract killing.
It is believed R250,000 had initially been agreed for the hit, but only R45,000 was paid in cash.
Gininda also told the court that the police found the same photo of a bag containing cash, as they did on the cellphone of Mncube.
The cellphone picture on Mncube’s phone was found when his cellphone information was downloaded during his 2015 arrest for an unrelated charge.
It was also found on Khumalo's phone, Gininda told the court.
The revelations implicating Khumalo, made before Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng, were not the first time her name has surfaced during the trial.