Year in review: The 2023 Senzo Meyiwa murder trial restarts with new judge
Five men have spent most of the year in the dock in the Pretoria High Court as the trial into the football star’s murder has unfolded.
Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu resumes his cross-examination of Brigadier Bongani Gininda in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial in the Pretoria High Court on 30 November 2023.
JOHANNESBURG - While the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial is now on recess for the festive season, one of the accused will spend another Christmas behind bars as an awaiting-trial prisoner.
It's almost a decade since Meyiwa was shot at the Vosloorus home of his girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, in October 2014.
Five men have spent most of the year in the dock in the Pretoria High Court as the trial into the football star’s murder has unfolded.
READ: Senzo Meyiwa murder trial to start from scratch, confirms Judge Mokgoatlheng
Four of the five men being tried for Senzo Meyiwa’s murder have been convicted for other crimes and are currently serving prison sentences.
If they are convicted of the football star’s murder, it would mean a mere addition to the years that they are already serving behind bars, with the exception of 31-year-old Bongani Ntanzi, who is the youngest of the accused and the only one without a previous conviction.
Ntanzi was arrested in June 2020 for an unrelated murder from Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal.
He was further charged for the possession of ammunition found in his room during a search by police but these matters have not been concluded.
His co-accused, Muzikawkhulelwa Sibiya, was charged in a similar fashion, also for ammunition found by police in his shack, a crime he has now been convicted of.
The pair's lawyer, Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, believes this is the police’s modus operandi.
"They are not investigated for the offences they are arrested for, instead they are investigated for the death of Senzo Meyiwa - it is incorrect."
Meanwhile, a new judge was introduced to the trial this year after Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela fell ill.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng’s presiding style has often come under scrutiny, with Mngomezulu also clashing with the judge at times.
Advocate Mngomezulu: "I'm still going on exhibits."
Judge Mokgoatlheng: "Just go on, sir."
Mngomezulu: "My lord, I think I will request an adjournment because if the court is disturbing my cross-examination, you are taking me out of the line. May I please adjourn the matter to tomorrow?"
Mokgoatlheng: "No!"
The trial resumes on 22 January.