The Senzo Meyiwa murder trial continued in the Pretoria High Court on Friday, with Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo, representing the fourth accused, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, beginning his cross-examination of the first accused, Muzi Sibiya, who has been on the stand throughout the week.
Nxumalo questioned Sibiya about his alleged communication with the fourth accused [his client] Maphisa. This happened between June 18, 2018, and February 19, 2020.
“Yes, I was in contact with Maphisa during that time,” Sibiya responded.
“Even though I don’t know his number by heart, I do admit that I used to communicate with him.”
Nxumalo then asked Sibiya to clarify the nature of those conversations.
Made random calls to co-accused
“I would call him to check if he was fine. I would make calls to him at any time using whichever cellphone number had airtime,” he said.
Earlier in the week Sibiya told the court that he knew three of his co-accused.
“I know Ntanzi, Maphisa and Ntuli. The only person I saw for the first time when we were already arrested was Mncube. Ntanzi is from a village closer to my village in KwaZulu-Natal. Maphisa is from a village where my mother was born, so I would see him from time to time when I visited my mom’s family. Ntuli and I are related. My mother is from the Ntuli surname. As a matter of fact, Ntuli calls my mother an aunt, even though they’re not from the same house,” he said.
When Nxumalo asked whether their discussions ever involved discussing the murder of Meyiwa, Sibiya denied any such conversations.
“No, I never spoke about the death of the deceased because I do not even know this person. I know nothing about his death,” he added.
Nxumalo further asked Sibiya about his relationship with one of the state witnesses, Constable Sizwe Zungu.
“I started to know Zungu in 2017 and met him in 2019. But the allegations that we were with him 2014 are not true. I did not see Zungu in 2014, and I never told him about Meyiwa being dead.”
When Nxumalo wrapped up his cross-examination, advocate Zandile Mshololo, representing the fifth accused in the case, applied to begin her cross-examination on Monday.
The state, through advocate George Baloyi, did not object. It noted that Mshololo had been unavailable earlier in the week.
