Meyiwa murder trial: Bongani Ntanzi claims to have signed confession statement unknowingly
Accused Bongani Ntanzi, who spent two days testifying against the admission of two confession statements said he thought he was signing a form that would afford him a shower and call to his family.
The Senzo Meyiwa murder trial continued in the Pretoria High Court on 1 August 2023.
JOHANNESBURG - One of the men accused of murdering Senzo Meyiwa said he signed a confession statement unknowingly, thinking it would afford him a shower and call to his family.
Bongani Ntanzi has spent two days on the witness stand testifying against the admission of two confession statements that he signed.
He is one of two accused who signed confessions after their arrest in 2021.
Five men are being tried for Meyiwa’s 2014 murder, which police believe was a contract killing.
READ: Meyiwa murder trial: Ntanzi claims assault at the hands of police for supposedly removing gold tooth
Ntanzi and his lawyers have the task of invalidating not one but two confession statements – one signed before a police officer and another before a magistrate.
On Thursday, he told the court that he was beaten into signing a confession in an open field in Orlando, Soweto.
On Friday, he spoke about the second confession that he signed before a magistrate on 24 June 2020.
“I didn’t know, I just thought it was a pro forma and I was signing so I could be allowed to take a shower and to call my family.”
Ntanzi said before he saw the magistrate, he was dirty and fearful – after being tortured by police for days since his arrest on 16 June 2020.
Ntanzi is expected to have to take tough questions under cross-examination next week.