Senzo Meyiwa trial: Witness grilled on glitch in system of LPC's Fidelity Fund
The court has been hearing evidence on the credentials of a lawyer who is linked to one of the accused, Bongani Ntanzi.
The Senzo Meyiwa murder trial resumed in the Pretoria High Court on 22 January 2024. Picture: Kgomotso Modise/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - A glitch in the systems of the legal practitioners' Fidelity Fund took centre stage at the Senzo Meyiwa trial on Monday.
The court heard evidence on the credentials of a lawyer who is linked to one of the accused, Bongani Ntanzi.
According to the State, Ntanzi was legally represented by a lawyer named Dominic Mjiyako when he signed a confession statement before a magistrate at the Boksburg court in June 2020.
On the witness stand on Monday was Khulani Sambo, an officer from the Legal Practice Council (LPC), who confirmed Mjiyako’s credentials.
Sambo’s testimony confirmed that Advocate Dominic Mjiyako was registered as an attorney when he allegedly represented Ntanzi when he wrote and signed a statement confessing to the murder of Senzo Meyiwa.
But Sambo also revealed that in 2020, through a complaint, that he became aware of a systems glitch that resulted in Mjiyako sharing a Fidelity Fund certificate number with another lawyer.
Sambo said that a unique number was usually issued to each legal practitioner.
This is where the defence centred its cross-examination on Monday, with Ntanzi’s lawyer Sipho Ramosepele questioning Sambo on this glitch.
"Have you ever heard of where practitioners collude with certain staff members from the LPC and those practitioners obtain FFC fraudulently?" Ramosepele asked.
Sambo: "Not to my knowledge, no."
While Ramosepele and his colleague, Advocate Charles Mnisi, questioned Sambo on instances of alleged corruption and fraud at the Legal Practice Council, none of them were linked to Mjiyako.