The five people on trial — Ncube, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthokozisi Maphisa, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Fisokuhle Ntuli — have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition. (Gallo Images/OJ Koloti)
A scuffle broke out in court on Monday between three of the accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial and a prison warder responsible for escorting them to and from the Pretoria high court.
State prosecutor George Baloyi told the court that the tussle happened during a short adjournment but said the reason for it was unclear.
“The fight was between accused number three [Mthobisi Mncube], four [Mthokoziseni Maphisa], five [Fisokuhle Ntuli] and one prison warder,” said Baloyi, adding that the warden’s colleague had “stepped in to rescue him”.
Baloyi described it as a “physical confrontation”.
Defence advocate Charles Mnisi, representing Mncube, said he did know what had started the fight. He said he heard a commotion and when he turned around, he saw a “huge” man ramming his shoulder into the accused and his client standing up and defending himself.
“My client [Mncube] says during the long or short adjournments they would stand up to stretch … Apparently, the gentleman that I have pointed out to the court [the warder] does not take kindly to that,” Mnisi said.
Mnisi said Mncube told him that during the short adjournment, the prison warder approached them and said they should sit down and “if they do not comply with his instructions he will hit them”, Mnisi said.
He said his client had told him that the warder grabbed him and hit him with his shoulder.
“Accused number three had to stand up and try to wipe out those blows, not as a matter of retaliation, but he was defending himself,” he said.
Another defence advocate, Zithulele Nxumalo, representing accused number four, Maphisa, said his client gave him a version of events similar to what Mnisi had told the court.
“He says that it was for the first time today that the member of the correctional services had a problem with their seating arrangement. He then saw the member hitting accused number three so much that he nearly fell,” Nxumalo said.
Bakwena Monyeki, the advocate representing accused number five Fisokuhle Ntuli, said his client told him that he was not part of the scuffle. He was, however, bumped by accused number three when he was pushed by the prison warder.
The warder in question, Vusi Ernest, demonstrated to the court how the accused were seated and then said he had shouted at Ntuli, reminding him that he was in court and he could not sit on the backrest of a court bench.
“[Ntuli] said, ‘You cannot tell me how to sit.’ Three of them were now howling, saying, ‘Sizokushaya!’ [we will beat you]”
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng said he had been told about the scuffle and asked everyone to maintain court decorum and advised the accused to allow the warders to do their job.
“The prison warder has his own brief about how the accused must sit. Can we behave? There is nothing wrong with the accused stretching. This one of fighting like in our parliament, we do not need that. Ubuntu! Resolve issues by speaking,” he said.
Sergeant Vusumuzi Mogane returned to the witness stand on Monday after his testimony was paused to allow for testimony by a vehicle tracking expert.
Mogane previously told the court that he was one of the police officers who escorted accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, to make his first confession statement and spent over 17 hours with him because he thought he would be “bored” alone in his cell.
The five men on trial for Meyiwa’s 2014 killing at the family home of his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, sister to Zandile, have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.