Musician Sello “Chicco” Twala offered to pay for Kelly Khumalo’s vacation overseas soon after the murder of her then-boyfriend Senzo Meyiwa, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.
According to Tumelo Madlala, the third state witness, Twala visited Kelly’s house in Mulbarton, southern Johannesburg a few days after Meyiwa was gunned down.
Madlala testified: “I am not sure about the day, but I was still in Mulbarton when Chicco Twala visited and Kelly introduced me as Senzo’s friend. I heard him [Chicco] asking if she didn’t want to go overseas for a holiday.”
State advocate George Baloyi probed about the date, to which Madlala said he did not remember, and asked if the court could allow him to testify without mentioning the dates, stating that it has been a long time since the incident happened.
Madlala had gone to Kelly’s house in the early hours of the morning after Meyiwa was shot and killed at the house of Kelly’s mother in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg on October 26 2014.
He told the court that he had travelled to the house in Meyiwa’s BMW with Kelly and her child, her sister Zandi and their mother Gladness.
Kelly instructed security at the gate not to let the police into the estate, Madlala told the court, adding that the afro-pop musician instructed them, once inside her house, to switch off the lights until the police were gone.
After that, she made a call and the police left, said Madlala.
The court also heard that Meyiwa was transported to the hospital by Kelly in an attempt to save the former Orlando Pirates captain’s life.
Testifying about their trip to the hospital, he said Meyiwa was picked up from the dining room where he lay and put inside the car, noting that his best friend’s body was very heavy. “We tried to pick him up but he was heavy. I was at the back, behind him.
“In the car, his head lay on me, and in the middle it was Mthokozisi Twala [another friend of Meyiwa]. On the side, it was Zandi,” Madlala testified.
He said other people, whom he described as neighbours, had already gathered at Kelly’s mother’s house after the shooting, and added that a woman bystander offered him a face cloth to cover Meyiwa’s wound to stop the bleeding.
“She said I must place it on the hole [gunshot wound] where the blood was coming out. Kelly was driving and she was hitting [speed] humps. Zandi reprimanded her. I think there was blood coming [out] from the hole, because there were newspapers in the car and they had blood on them.”
Madlala said a nurse at Botshelong Hospital, where Meyiwa had been taken, asked to speak to an elder. After speaking to the nurse in private, Kelly’s mother came out of the room weeping.
“She came back to us crying and told us that Senzo was no more, and everyone started crying,” said Madlala, testifying that the hospital staff allowed them to view his dead friend’s body.
He kissed Meyiwa on the forehead before they were asked to leave the ward for the hospital’s waiting area.
“Senzo was laying on a stretcher facing upwards, he was covered [with a sheet]. When I went to see him, Kelly followed me. I was crying and said to him: ‘Senzo, you called me to come [and] see this’?
“The nurses wanted us to leave. I kissed him on his forehead. Kelly removed his watch and we were taken back to the benches in the waiting room.”
After hearing about the shooting, more people started arriving at the hospital, and among them were some Orlando Pirates players and Meyiwa’s wife Mandisa, said Madlala.
The court also heard that there was a scuffle between Mandisa and Kelly at the hospital. “I think Mandisa and Kelly were at each other. I saw hair lying on the floor. I do not know if it was Mandisa or her friend, but there was a fight. I then saw the hair.”
Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela asked Madlala to explain whether it was “hair or wig”, to which Madlala said it was braids.
The trial continues…
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