AfriForum maintains that the 5 accused in Meyiwa murder are the true perpetrators

JOHANNESBURG - Lobby group AfriForum, which helped the State make an arrest in the Senzo Meyiwa trial says it does not doubt that the five men accused of the footballer’s murder are the true perpetrators.

The trial has been one of the most polarising of our time with some hellbent on the notion of a cover-up, and others convinced that the state has arrested the correct suspects.

Five men have been standing trial for over two years now in connection with Meyiwa’s murder after it had to be restarted last year when the presiding judge fell ill.

But exactly 10 years since Meyiwa’s devastating murder, there is still no indication of when the trial will be put to bed.

WATCH: 'The supporters still sing his name': Senzo Meyiwa remembered a decade after his murder

There are two main camps following the Senzo Meyiwa trial, one that insists that it was Longwe Twala, one of the men who was in the house when Meyiwa was shot, who pulled the trigger.

And another, which is sold on the State’s case that it was Kelly Khumalo who contracted the five men who stand accused, of carrying out the hit.

In 2019, AfriForum was roped in to help the State with investigators and the services of advocate Gerrie Nel before arrests were made a year later.

Nel said his view had not changed.

"I have got no doubt… from that time I have said that we have the correct people before the court – but I think that the matter is dealt with as a robbery gone wrong, and I did not believe that we are dealing with a robbery that went wrong."

Meanwhile, the State’s case is drawing to a close, with the final witness, the lead investigating officer Brigadier Bongani Gininda, expected to continue with his testimony on Monday morning.

AfriForum further believes it will be near impossible to charge the alleged mastermind after the current trial.

It took police six years to make an arrest for the murder and eight years for the trial to get underway.

Nel is not pleased that the alleged mastermind was not in the dock with the accused, a concern he still holds.

“It’s very difficult to charge a mastermind later- because the accused have gone through a trial – they have never admitted what they did- in all probability the state will argue that their evidence should be rejected- then to later use the same people to charge the mastermind won’t be very effective.

“I think it will be near impossible to prosecute a mastermind based on the evidence of a trial that’s taken this long.”

The State has since revealed that it believes Khumalo is the mastermind – leading evidence that links phone calls between her and the accused.

Meanwhile, Nel has lauded the NPA and the lead prosecutor in this matter - advocate George Baloyi, for his work on the trial so far.