Five accused men in the Senzo Mayiwa murder trial stand in the dock at Pretoria High Court on July 17, 2023 in Pretoria. (Photo by Phill Magakoe/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Bongani Ntanzi, the second accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial who claims to have been tortured into confessing to the footballer’s killing, testified on Thursday that the late Sergeant Steven Mabena took away his blood-stained clothes after the alleged assault.
During his ongoing cross-examination by prosecutor Ronnie Sibanda in the Pretoria high, Ntanzi stressed that if Mabena had not taken his clothes, he would have provided them as evidence of the alleged torture by police officers.
Ntanzi returned to the stand on Thursday as the defence’s second witness in the trial within a trial to determine whether confessions made by him and accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, were admissible.
The two claim to have been tortured by police officers and made to sign pre-prepared confessions.
Sibiya and Ntanzi are among five men accused of killing the footballer at the family home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, on 26 October 2014 in Vosloorus, Gauteng.
The other accused are Mthobisi Ncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli,
all of whom have pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.
“You said you were wearing a vest underneath, did it have blood?” the prosecutor asked Ntanzi on Thursday. “You never showed Col [Mohale] Raphadu the shirt? And when you appeared before magistrate [Vivian] Cronje [to make the alleged confession], you still had the clothes?”
Ntanzi replied: “If that Fabiani T-shirt was here, I could show you. There is no way the blood would not be able to go to the vest.
He added: “I never had a conversation with Raphadu, so I did not tell him. And, yes, I was wearing the clothes when we went to Cronje, and I did not tell her because she did not ask me a question regarding that.”
Raphadu told the court on 23 October 2023 that he had no knowledge or involvement in the torture of Ntanzi.
On Thursday, Ntanzi said when he was taken back to the police station, he took off the clothes and hung them so the blood could dry.
“It was cold and I would sleep wearing track pants and a jacket because my T-shirt and vest were wet from being tortured and had blood,” he said.
Ntanzi further told the court that he got clothes to change into and toiletries on 13 July 2020, after his arrest on 16 June.
“My family got to know about my arrest on 13 July. It was on [that] day I managed to get some clothes to change, as well as some toiletries [because] from the 16 June up until 13 of July I had not taken a bath,” he said.
On Wednesday, before the court adjourned, the defence asked for court records of Ntanzi’s appearances at the Tlhabane magistrate’s court in North West on possession of ammunition charges. It argued that Ntanzi was not legally represented by former police intelligence officer Dominic Mjiyako, who the state insists was on record as his lawyer during that appearance.
The North West records were furnished to the defence on Thursday and advocate Sipho Ramosepele, representing Ntanzi and Sibiya, then asked the court for a short adjournment to consult the accused on the transcripts.
When court resumed, Sibanda questioned Ntanzi on the evidence of police officer Vusimuzi Mogane.
Last year, Mogane testified that Mjiyako told him that the latter was representing Ntanzi since his June 2020 arrest, through to the accused’s first appearance at the Boksburg magistrate’s court in October 2020 on the Meyiwa charges.
“Mogane said Mjiyako then handed him his practising card,” Sibanda asserted on Thursday.
Ntanzi said: “No, I only met him [Mjiyako] on 24 [July 2020].”
The trial resumes on Friday.