Advocate Malesela Teffo on Tuesday withdrew from the ongoing Senzo Meyiwa murder trial at the Pretoria High Court citing that he is not getting any respect from the court.
Teffo, who was representing accused one to four, said his withdrawal was as a result of harassment from the state and court. He told the courtroom that that he had been harassed by the police and National Prosecuting Authority and told that he should not be part of the murder case.
“I deserve and demand respect from this court. I came here knowing what will be the consequences,” said Teffo, adding that he will return to his role as watching brief on behalf of the Meyiwa family.
Earlier in the day Teffo abandoned his application to challenge the jurisdiction of the Pretoria High Court to hear the murder trial.
On Tuesday, the court was expected to hear arguments from Teffo on the issue of the court having the jurisdiction over the case and the existence of the two dockets in one matter.
State prosecutor George Baloyi has said that Teffo failed to submit the heads of arguments, noting that the defence lawyer had approached the National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi to have the charges against his clients dropped.
In the application to Batohi, Teffo, who represents four of the five men accused of killing Meyiwa, alleges that two of his clients [accused number one and two] were forced to give their confessions under duress.
He also argues that the two accused were in prison doing time for other crimes when Meyiwa was killed.
Said Baloyi: “The court set a timetable for the filing of heads [of argument] by advocate Teffo in which the state and advocate [Zandile] Mshololo [who represents accused number five] had to reply to.
“However, no heads have been received from Teffo on those two aspects. Therefore, the need for the state and Mshololo to file heads fell away.
“On July 4, the correspondent was received. In the correspondence, advocate Teffo mentioned that he has since abandoned the issue of jurisdiction and has resolved to bring an application in terms of section 6b of the Criminal Procedure Act.
“He has submitted representations to the national director of public prosecution on July 4, [and] we will have to await the outcome,” Baloyi told the court.
In June, judge Tshifhiwa Maumela postponed the trial to September 5 stating that if the rights of accused number five were undermined, the trial would be tainted.
“The rights of accused one to four are undermined by granting [a] postponement, their right to speedy trial will be affected. [However] there is more weight on the rights of accused five, the court grants the application for postponement,” Maumela ruled at the time of the postponement.
This after Mshololo had asked for a postponement to allow her enough time to get clarity on the existence of the two dockets.
Mshololo, whose cross-examination of forensic police officer Thabo Mosia was halted, argued at the time that she needed to complete her cross-examination before the court could proceed with submissions pertaining to the second docket.
She added that Teffo was supposed to have questioned the existence of the second docket during his cross-examination, adding that she wanted clarity on whether a final decision had been made regarding docket 375 [second docket].
“I want this court to order the DPP [director of public prosecutions] in Gauteng to give us an answer,” she told the court.
She also wanted to know the status of those named in docket 375 and whether they would testify as suspect witnesses or accused witnesses.
The second docket came under scrutiny during Teffo’s cross-examination of Mosia in May when he insisted that a different docket opened in 2019 listed seven witnesses found at the crime scene as the suspects who should be charged with murder and defeating the ends of justice.
Meyiwa was killed while visiting the home of his girlfriend and baby-mama Kelly Khumalo in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg on October 26 2014.
Teffo previously told the court that according to the docket Longwe Twala, Khumalo, her mother Gladness, and her sister Zandi ought to have faced criminal charges, adding that the gun that killed the soccer star was brought to the house by Twala.
Currently, under docket 636 which was filed in 2014, Muzikawukhulelwa S’tembu Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, and Fisokuhle Ntuli are on trial for Meyiwa’s murder, which some believe was a robbery gone terribly wrong.
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