Musa Kekana is back in the witness box at the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday as the trial-within-a-trial in the Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala case continues. The court is addressing a dispute over whether the State may use medical records to test Kekana’s credibility during cross-examination.
The records were introduced by the defence and admitted as Exhibit N. The State wants to refer to entries in the records when questioning Kekana about whether his current evidence is consistent with information he previously provided to medical practitioners.
Kekana’s lawyer, Riaan Gissing, has objected to the State’s use of the records, arguing that the entries are hearsay and cannot simply be treated as proof of what happened without the doctors who made the notes being called to testify.
The dispute includes an entry relating to a medical admission on 3 March 2024, about five weeks before Kekana was arrested on 17 April 2024. Gissing questioned the relevance of the earlier admission and challenged the State’s reliance on the medical notes.
The medical record dispute comes as Kekana continues giving evidence about his arrest and alleged treatment by police. Kekana has told the court that police assaulted him during his arrest and later suffocated him several times with a plastic bag. He also alleged that he was threatened with a firearm and questioned about firearms while at his home. Police witnesses have disputed his account.
The trial-within-a-trial is examining the lawfulness of Kekana’s arrest and the circumstances surrounding evidence obtained afterwards. The defence is seeking to have that evidence excluded from the main attempted murder trial.
The court was expected to rule on the admissibility of the medical records today, while Kekana’s cross-examination continues.