Singer Kelly Khumalo registered one of the cellphone numbers that accused number five in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case called, according to Pinky Vythilingam, a forensic liaison supervisor at Vodacom.
Vythilingam disclosed this when she testified on Section 205 (mobile phone records) at the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
She stated during her testimony, which was led by state advocate Ronnie Sibanda, that Vodacom keeps cellphone records for three years and that the information on the core data cannot be changed.
She explained that the data is delivered to the investigators in PDF format so that it cannot be tampered with or altered, adding that she had received a subpoena from the police.
Core-related data
“The supbpoena had been submitted for core-related information. The information requested was from July 1, 2014, until October 27, 2014,” she said.
The subpoena was for call-related data consisting of incoming and outgoing calls and SMSs, including the GPRS.
After reading out the six cellphone numbers mentioned on the subpoena, Vythilingam discussed two calls allegedly made to Khumalo by accused number five, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
“The first call was on August 2, 2014, and it was received by number ending 4358 [Khumalo’s number]. The call duration was 110 seconds, and the call came from a number ending in 1330 [Ntuli’s].
“The other extract for the number ending 4358 is a call that lasted 98 seconds; the date was October 15, 2014, at 17.33.57.”
Reliability of the information
Khumalo registered the 082…4358 cellphone number, according to Vythilingam, who also identified it through Rica.
“It was Rica’d by Kelly Khumalo on July 1, 2011, and the registration end date was January 1, 2015.”
Advocate Sibanda asked how reliable the information is, as the defence has alleged that it is cooked.
Vythilingam responded: “Core data is generated, stored, and communicated by the computer system.
“It cannot be altered, manipulated, or tampered with by anyone. The manner in which the integrity of the core data is maintained is therefore reliable.”
She further revealed that between 7pm and 8pm on October 26, 2014, the night when Meyiwa was shot and killed, Khumalo, Meyiwa and Chicco Twala’s numbers were picked up at the same tower in Spruitview and Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.
