Senzo Meyiwa and Kelly Khumalo were lovers when he was shot.
(Photo by Gallo Images / Daily Sun / Lucky Morajane)
The lead investigator into Senzo Meyiwa’s October 2014 murder, Brigadier Bongani Gininda, testified on Wednesday that the first accused, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, implicated singer Kelly Khumalo as having ordered the hit on the Bafana Bafana captain.
Earlier this week, Gininda read his investigative affidavit at the Pretoria high court saying Meyiwa’s murder at the Khumalo family home in Vosloorus, Gauteng was not a botched robbery but rather a contract killing or assassination. The footballer and Khumalo were lovers at the time.
On Wednesday, state prosecutor George Baloyi requested that parts of Gininda’s affidavit not be recorded by the court, arguing that “it will be unfair for any individual to hear their name in court without being given an opportunity to represent themselves”.
Baloyi said the information contained in the statement was irrelevant in the trial-within-a-trial proceedings which are being held to determine the admissibility of alleged confessions made by Sibiya and accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, following their October 2020 arrest.
But Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng ordered that Gininda’s affidavit be read in full.
The statement said there were four cellphone numbers linked to Khumalo which she did not disclose. Gininda said investigations showed that these numbers linked Khumalo to accused number three, Mthobisi Ncube, and accused number five, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
Sibiya, Ntanzi, Ncube, Ntuli and Mthokoziseni Maphisa, the fourth accused, have all pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition in relation to Meyiwa’s death.
Gininda said Khumalo was further linked to a picture — which she shared with Ncube — of a bag full of cash.
“A photo of a see-through bag containing cash was found on accused number three’s phone. The same picture was also discovered on Kelly Khumalo’s phone,” he read from his affidavit.
Gininda testified that Khumalo had no legitimate reason to share a picture of a bag of money with the accused, adding that the singer “hated” Meyiwa.
“It is clear she hated him and wanted him gone. She meant for him to be killed,” Gininda asserted.
Last year, state witness Colonel Lambertus Steyn, a cell phone data analyst, told the court that Ntuli called a number registered to Khumalo twice before the footballer was shot dead.
“During my analysis, I discovered that Kelly Khumalo with the number [withheld] received a call from Fisokuhle Ntuli with the number [withheld]. The first call lasted almost two minutes and the second was just more than a minute,” Steyn said.
On Wednesday, Gininda said investigators found that Khumalo called a number beginning with “082” after Meyiwa was shot, and did not call emergency services.
The brigadier said the probe also revealed that Khumalo went for a cleansing ceremony overseen by a traditional healer to spiritually clean herself after Meyiwa’s shooting, as Ntuli had also allegedly done.
The court resumes on Thursday. The five accused are remanded in custody.