Senzo Meyiwa’s best friend Tumelo Madlala said there were no intruders on the night of Meyiwa’s death, but Zandi [Kelly Khumalo’s sister] was fighting with her boyfriend Longwe Twala, and Senzo was shot while trying to break up that fight.
This is the evidence contained in a statement made by Meyiwa’s brother-in-law, Edward Hlophe.
It was shared before the Pretoria High Court on Monday during the cross-examination of the lead investigator Brigadier Bongani Gininda by defence counsel for accused five advocate Zandile Mshololo.
After lunch, Mshololo zoomed into Hlophe’s statement, asking Gininda if he came across the statement in his docket.
“Yes, it was together with the statement that was taken in my presence, which was alleged to have gone missing,” said Gininda.
Mshololo requested that Gininda read the paragraph that says Hlophe called Madlala just days after Meyiwa was killed to find out what had happened at the crime scene.
“Madlala informed him that Zandi was fighting with her boyfriend Longwe, and Senzo was shot while trying to break up that fight,” Gininda said.
“But let us start from here. The investigating team before I took over the case found no basis. It’s contained in the diary.
“I was asked to go and inform the family that they would be updated on the case, and that’s when the Meyiwa family raised this issue of Edward Hlophe.”
Family believes someone is funding Madlala
Gininda continued: “They wanted to know why it was so difficult to solve the case when Hlophe had received the information from Madlala.
“We then asked to meet Hlophe, and he gave us a statement that was taken by Captain Mabute. This is the statement that was alleged to have gone missing.”
He further said when his team tried to speak to Madlala, he did not trust them, and they had to go through Modise, who was investigating the matter at the time.
“Madlala refuted what was said here,” Gininda added.
Mshololo asked that Gininda read Hlophe’s statement that was taken by Mabute.
“In the statement, Hlophe says Tumelo told him that Senzo was shot by mistake while trying to break up a fight between Zandi and Longwe.
“It also says that Sfiso Meyiwa told him that Madlala received a lot of money after the death of Senzo Meyiwa.
“The family believes Madlala is being funded by someone, and they would like his bank accounts to be looked into.
“They don’t trust Tumelo, and they also don’t trust the Khumalo family. Meyiwa’s family expected him to tell them everything about the murder of Senzo Meyiwa, not that he was killed by two criminals.”
Irvin Khoza’s name come up
Before the adjournment, state advocate George Baloyi interjected and said in the statement Hlophe said he got information from Sfiso Meyiwa [the deceased’s brother] that Orlando Pirates chairman, Dr Irvin Khoza, told him that what they were hearing on television was not true.
According to Baloyi, this does not only contain double hearsay but contains triple hearsay and should not be accepted.
Baloyi asked if the defence was going to call Khoza.
“The defence will call Sfiso Meyiwa, the brother of Senzo Meyiwa. We will consult with all these parties and will indicate at a later stage,” Mshololo responded.
