A defence lawyer in the Senzo Meyiwa trial grilled state witness Zandile Khumalo over comments she made during a TV interview in 2022 with news channel eNCA about the former Bafana Bafana captain’s wife Mandisa Mkhize.
Khumalo is the first state witness in the rebooted trial of the five men accused of killing Meyiwa, who was shot at the Khumalo home in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.
Meyiwa was at the house with his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, Zandile’s sister.
The house belongs to the Khumalo sisters’ mother.
Zandile was grilled by the counsel representing accused number 5, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
Ntuli has been charged alongside Bongani Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Ncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa.
Advocate Mandisa Mshololo asked that the video of the interview be played in court. Khumalo hardly watched it and bowed her head.
In the interview, Zandile criticised the police for failing to scrutinise Mkhize.
Mshololo asked her to explain what she meant by that.
A lawyer representing one of the men accused of killing Senzo Meyiwa asked state witness Zandile Khumalo what she meant during a TV interview when she said police should widen their probe.
Khumalo said she meant that Meyiwa’s wife, Mandisa Mkhize, should also have been interrogated.
The witness said it was unfair that Mkhize was never investigated or interrogated to establish if she could be a suspect in the soccer star’s murder.
“It’s common knowledge that when a man dies, the wife or girlfriend becomes a suspect. No one has ever looked at Mandisa. She was never investigated. The police never took her phone. All I was saying was why has Mandisa not faced the same amount of interrogation we were subjected to?” Zandile asked.
During the interview, Zandile said police were just fishing at one point and looking in all directions for answers.
Mshololo asked why Kelly should not be interrogated, as the text messages read in court showed that the singer was not happy in her relationship with Meyiwa and wanted to end it.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng then asked the prosecutor, Advocate George Baloyi, about the state of the video.
Baloyi told the court that the video was part of the exhibits for the trial and that it formed part of the documentary evidence.
He also said the interview violated the sub judice rule, as it was conducted while court proceedings were ongoing.
The trial continues.
