The family of slain Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain Senzo Meyiwa has decried the theatrics that played out in the Pretoria High Court when the lawyer representing four of the men accused of murdering him was apprehended in court on Thursday after the soccer star’s murder trial was adjourned.
Advocate Malesela Teffo was arrested in the full glare of the public for failure to appear in another court for assault and trespassing charges. He appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on Friday where he was granted R10 000 bail.
Sifiso Meyiwa, Senzo’s elder brother, maintains that the five accused of his murder in 2014 are merely fall guys. He said the people who know what happened on the night Senzo was killed at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus are Khumalo, her sister Zandile Khumalo Gumede, their mother Ntombifuthi Khumalo, Longwe Thwala and Senzo’s two friends, Tumelo Madlala and Mthokozisi Thwala.
“I feel vindicated with my version that the five people currently standing trial had nothing to do with my brother’s murder and that is the reason why the advocate was arrested. Police will go to great lengths to protect the real killer.
“The dramatic fashion in which advocate Teffo was arrested inside the court bears testimony to this. It’s part of a police cover-up. They want to scare anyone who takes over the case. Advocate Teffo was asking hard questions and exposing the state’s inefficiencies,” he said.
Teffo had earlier poked holes in state witness Sergeant Thabo Mosia’s testimony, going as far as accusing the police of staging the entire crime scene.
Mosia was the first forensic detective on the scene after Meyiwa was shot.
Teffo accused Police Minister Bheki Cele of being behind his arrest to get him off the case.
Police service national spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said that the national commissioner had received a report from the provincial commissioner. “Advocate Teffo was previously arrested … on charges of common assault and trespassing after allegedly assaulting a female SAPS member and entering the SAPS Gauteng provincial building in contravention of a high court interdict prohibiting him from entering the said building,” Mathe said.
She said when Teffo failed to appear before the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on several occasions, including January 27, a warrant for his arrest was issued but withheld. However, the court instructed that the warrant be executed when Teffo again failed to appear in court on February 10.
Black Lawyers Association (BLA) president Bayethe Maswazi said Teffo’s arrest in court had serious ramifications for the rule of law. “Most unfortunately, however, is the continued hurt borne by the family of the late Senzo Meyiwa. The BLA, therefore, calls on all the parties – the judge, prosecution, defence team and police officers – to be alive to the ongoing feeling of loss that weighs heavily not only on the family but on the entire nation, and to ensure that the trial is finalised without any delay and unnecessary distractions,” Maswazi said.
Sifiso called on the circus to stop and said his family is taking strain. “More painful is that this case has gone on for eight years now. We still want closure. My father [Sam Meyiwa] died a heartbroken man wanting justice for his son.”
Teffo declined to comment.
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