Senzo Meyiwa murder trial: Defence brings back paperwork to haunt State witness

JOHANNESBURG - The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa trial brought back police paperwork to haunt a State witness.

The court heard testimony from an Ekurhuleni Metro Police officer who arrested one of the five men accused of the football star’s 2014 murder.

Constable Jabulani Buthelezi gave details of what happened in May 2020 during Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya’s arrest and days in June after that when Bongani Ntanzi was transported to make confession statements.
The court is still hearing a trial within a trial to establish the admissibility of the confession statement.

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During his examination in chief, Buthelezi told the court that he informed Sibiya of his rights both at his arrest in Tembisa and when he was being booked into a cell in Pretoria.

But the lawyer for the fifth accused, Advocate Zandile Mshololo, pointed out that the form said it was Sergeant Batho Mogola.

“This is contrary to what [you] have said here in this court. The form itself, it says who the person who read the rights to the accused and it’s not yourself,” she said.

“It would be a mistake to say that just because I did not write, I did not tell the accused of the rights,” Buthelezi rebutted.

Mshololo also highlighted that the form did not show that there was a witness when the rights were explained to Sibiya, despite Buthelezi saying Mogola was the witness.

Mshololo then argued that this form showed that Sibiya’s rights were not explained to him at his arrest, a point that State Advocate George Baloyi deemed baseless.