Defence advocate Zandile Mshololo
Tension rose in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial on Wednesday when police officer Vusimuzi Mogane testified that the defence had disclosed confidential information to the five accused men, endangering witnesses.
Pretoria high court judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng had on Tuesday ordered Mogane to disclose all the cases he was working on the day he drove around with accused number two Bongani Ntanzi for 17 hours. He said the police officer must make the disclosure in a note to be shared with all the counsel, who must, however, not disclose the information.
When Mogane returned to the stand on Wednesday he claimed to have seen the five accused reading the confidential list of investigations, which he had been ordered to bring to court.
“This is something bothering me, my lord. I brought the documents, as asked by the court, and I detailed all the cases and the names of the accused people in those listed cases.
“I gave it to [state prosecutor] advocate [George] Baloyi in an envelope clearly marked that it is confidential information. During the break, I saw the document roaming around in court,” Mogane said.
“I saw Muzi [accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya] and all the accused reading it,” he added, saying he was worried about the safety of the witnesses listed in the document.
“In some of those cases, some of the accused I will not mention are involved and, in all those cases, firearms are involved — people were shot, kidnapped and others were threatened — so I am worried if my witnesses will still be alive tomorrow.”
Mogane said he had seen defence advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, who represents Sibiya and Ntanzi, with a document detailing case details extracted from the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) online system.
“It is possible to get into the SAPS system and get the details of our witnesses. The document I saw from Mngomezulu was from our system and it showed that it was retrieved by Sergeant Mngomezulu. I am not sure if they are related and now I am afraid that some people will be able to get the same information and put our witnesses in danger,” he said.
Mokgoatlheng said he was dismayed that a document supposed to be seen by just himself and the lawyers allegedly had been viewed by other people.
“I have dealt with such cases before and those documents should have been seen by me only first,” he said.
“I allowed transparency in court and said it should be seen by me and the counsels as I am trying to avoid a situation where judges are said to be bought or corrupt and, after seeing the document, I would have decided on which sections would be given to the counsels.
“I am shocked that senior counsel like these ones are behaving like this. This witness is right because we are not sure if his witnesses will be alive tomorrow because in a case like this people do get killed.”
Mngomezulu denied consulting his client about the document.
Advocate Charles Mnisi, representing accused number three Mthobisi Mncube, said he was uncomfortable with the statement made by the judge, because he felt that how the document got to the accused should have been determined first.
Advocate Zandile Mshololo, representing accused number five Fisokuhle Ntuli, said she had not seen the document and that her client had told her that the document he and the other men were seen reading was their indictment.
“My lord, I have not personally seen or consulted with my client on that document.
“My client has informed me that, when they were grouped with accused one Sibiya, accused two Ntanzi and accused number four Mthokoziseni Maphisa, they were looking at the indictment document.
“It is not the one produced by Mogane, it is the charge sheet and they were discussing witnesses one and four,” Mshololo said.
Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo, representing Maphisa, said he did not understand why Mogane was worried about the contents of the document being disclosed because he had referred to one of the cases listed on it.
“In his statement read in court, he referred to one of the cases, he detailed everything. I am failing to understand why he is bringing all of this,” Nxumalo said.
Mokgoatlheng did not respond to the defence lawyers’ submissions.
The five men on trial have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.
Mogane has previously said the National Cold Case Unit, to which he is attached, was told by an informant that Ntanzi had been involved in the murder of Bafana Bafana captain Meyiwa, who was shot dead on 26 October 2014 in the home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo in Vosloorus, Gauteng.