State witness Tumelo Madlala has refuted claims that there was a fight between Zandie Khumalo and her then-boyfriend Longwe Twala on the fateful night that claimed the life of Senzo Meyiwa.
Madlala was testifying during cross-examination at the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.
Defence advocate for accused number five Zandile Mshololo asked him about a certain Mlungisi Hlophe, whom he has identified as Meyiwa’s brother-in-law.
Mshololo revealed that according to a statement deposed by Hlophe in 2019, Madlala disclosed that Zandie and Twala were involved in a fight and Meyiwa was trying to intervene.
However, Madlala responded by saying that is a lie, and questioned why the statement was only made in 2019, many years after the shooting on October 26 2014.
Mshololo asked: “Mlungisi Hlophe made a statement on 6 March 2019 about Madlala, in which he says Madlala told him there was a fight in the house between Zandie and her boyfriend.”
Madlala said there is someone trying to push that narrative, further informing the court that he knows who this person is.
The statement reads in part: “ … Tumelo told me that there was a fight between Zandie and her boyfriend, Senzo Meyiwa was trying to separate the two.”
The court also heard that Madlala never spoke to Hlophe again after the incident.
Madlala also revealed in court that one of the investigators in the case, whom he identified as Colonel Buthelezi, abused her power to get information, citing assault and intimidation.
However, the information was regarded as “new evidence”, and thrown off, as Madlala had finished giving his evidence.
Mshololo probed further and asked if he ever deposed any statement to Buthelezi, to which he responded by saying there were a lot of statements. Madlala alleged that Buthelezi intimidated and assaulted Mthokozisi Thwala.
“A lot of statements were taken from me. Colonel Buthelezi took me to a place of safety and also took me to Senzo’s grave. Many people have been assaulted as a result of her. She has lied, we are in this statement fiasco because of her,” Madlala said.
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