Meyiwa murder: Lead investigator details how Longwe Twala was excluded as murder suspect

JOHANNESBURG - The lead investigator in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has detailed how he excluded Longwe Twala as a suspect who could have murdered the Bafana Bafana captain.

Brigadier Bongani Gininda took the stand in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.

Gininda said he's convinced that it was intruders who murdered Meyiwa and not any of the people who were in the house, as was rumoured.

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Five men are being tried for the 2014 murder of the football star, in what the State believes was a hit ordered by his then-girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo.

Gininda said from the time he was given the docket to investigate in November 2018, he was made aware of the theory that the person who murdered Meyiwa was in the house.

He said at some point, he too believed the theory but was swayed by the evidence in the docket.

Gininda said the first factor that stood out to him was the cellphone records he analysed, comparing the location of Kelly Khumalo’s phone, which was allegedly robbed by the intruders, with the phones of all the people who were in the house.

"After the shooting, the people who were in the house moved to the hospital. However, the robbed phone went in a different direction, and I could not get an explanation of who was in possession of this cellphone except the intruder, because one could confirm everyone who was in the house at the hospital."

Gininda also said that neighbours made statements saying they saw intruders fleeing from Khumalo’s house and the fact that the descriptions they gave matched what the people in the house confirmed to him that Meyiwa was indeed killed by intruders.