Defence advocate Zandile Mshololo
NEWS ANALYSIS
Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho was dubbed the “Smiling Assassin” for the way he “parlayed production, trickery and creativity” with a smile on his face while running riot over his opponents. Advocate Zandile Mshololo fits that bill.
Mshololo, who represents Fisokuhle Ntuli, the fifth accused in the trial into Senzo Meyiwa’s murder, tore into the state’s first witness, forensic officer Sergeant Thabo Mosia. During cross-examination he admitted that he was not supposed to conduct the crime scene investigation on the night of Meyiwa’s murder in October 2014 at the Vosloorus, Gauteng, home of his girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo.
He said the only forensic work he conducted was at the direction of Brigadier Philani Ndlovu, who was Gauteng’s head of detectives at the time of Meyiwa’s death.
“In fact, I was not supposed to start that crime scene. I was supposed to call the crime scene management team before starting the case,” Mosia testified, eliciting a slight smile from Mshololo.
Mosia was referring to an apparent instruction from the South African Police Service in Gauteng that officers attending high-profile crime scenes, such as that of the late Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain, should call the provincial crime scene task team to assist in collecting forensic evidence.
Mosia’s admissions, including that the crime scene could have been contaminated, contradict what state prosecutor George Baloyi said at the trial’s start — that witnesses such as Mosia would be important in proving the state’s case against the five accused.
His admissions may explain why advocate Dan Teffo, who had been the star of the show, launched an application for Mshololo to stop her cross-examination for a “trial within a trial” to be held.
Teffo represents the first four accused — Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Ncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa.
He said his application sought to ascertain the “constitutionality” and admissibility of alleged confessions made by Sibiya and Ntanzi.
Teffo, like England’s Ashley Cole unsuccessfully trying to stop Ronaldinho at the 2002 Fifa World Cup, explained at length why Mshololo should stop cross-examining Mosia.
Using the “cart before the horse” metaphor to demand that the state allow the challenging of the alleged confessions, Teffo said: “Now, when you take the cart and put it in front of the horses, are you going to get on the back of the horse with a saddle, and the horse will go towards the cart, and it will not move? Will you get inside the cart?
“You won’t go because the horses are not pulling. The horses are disturbing the [cart], which is what the state is doing here — it is putting the cart before the horses.”
With a smile Mshololo asked for protection and to continue with her cross-examination of Mosia “before there can be any other engagements on any possible applications”.
Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela dismissed Teffo’s pleas, saying the confessions were not before the court and that he would deal with their admissibility should the state decide to present the confessions as evidence.
Teffo rose to ask for Maumela’s written order dismissing the application, asserting that “definitely, your lordship, we are not going to let it go”.
That paved the way for Mshololo to continue her cross-examination of Mosia.
The state alleges that Meyiwa was shot inside the Khumalo family home kitchen during a botched house robbery, before the footballer collapsed inside the living room.
But Mosia conceded that there were no blood stains on the kitchen floor, nor was there a blood trail to the living room, where Meyiwa allegedly collapsed.
Mosia further conceded that there was no blood trail outside the house to Meyiwa’s BMW X6, in which the footballer was driven by Kelly Khumalo to Botshelong Hospital in Vosloorus, where Meyiwa was pronounced dead.
Dealing with possible crime scene contamination, Mshololo asked Mosia to comment, as the
state’s expert witness, on why there was no blood in areas inside and outside of the house after Meyiwa was shot.
“It [the lack of blood] is also surprising to me, so I cannot answer,” Mosia responded, before conceding to the possibility that the crime scene had been contaminated.
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