Meyiwa trial: Court hears two accused allegedly killed prominent union leader
The court is hearing testimony from the lead investigator, Bongani Gininda, in a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confession statements made by two of the accused.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng presides over the re-start of the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial on 17 July 2023. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The High Court in Pretoria has heard that two of the accused in the Senzo Meyiwa trial are also allegedly behind the mine murder of a prominent union leader.
The court is hearing testimony from the lead investigator, Bongani Gininda, in a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confession statements made by two of the accused.
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When disagreement ensued between the lawyers of one of the accused, Bongani Ntanzi, and Gininda over whether he was linked in any way to the Nongoma murder case that he was initially arrested for, the court ordered that Gininda read a statement from the docket.
In his statement, a witness, Simphiwe Buthelezi, alleged Ntanzi was a known gun smuggler who supplied hitmen with firearms and ammunition.
Buthelezi also linked him, and the fourth man accused of Senzo Meyiwa’s murder, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, to another crime.
“He invited me to visit him in Carltonville where I overheard him talking to Maphisa that they did a good job by killing a union member in Marikana. I heard that the person that was killed is a big person and very powerful.”
According to Buthelezi, when he asked Ntanzi about being a hitman, he simply said it was a man’s job that he needed to do to make a living.