Mdluli wasn't surprised by wife's affair‚ court told

Former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli wasn't surprised when he heard rumours his customary wife Tshidi Buthelezi was having an affair with a taxi driver‚  the South Gauteng High Court heard on Wednesday.

Mdluli's brother-in-law‚ Sibusiso‚ broke the news to him about the affair. 

"I can't be specific about his reaction right now. He is generally a calm person so when I told him about this‚ he wasn't surprised‚" Sibusiso said.

• Mdluli marriage fine: witness tells courtThe relationship between former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and his late customary law wife, Tshidi Buthelezi, came into the spotlight in the Johannesburg High Court yesterday. 

"He remained calm but I don't think he knew about it before. We spoke about it‚" he added. 

Mdluli and co-accused Mthembeni Mthunzi are currently on trial for kidnapping‚  intimidation and assault for allegedly terrorising the family of Oupa Ramogibe‚ the taxi driver who was having an affair with Mdluli's customary wife. Ramogibe and Tshidi Buthelezi later secretly married.

• Mdluli 'kidnapped' his wife‚ court hearsThe South Gauteng High Court on Monday heard allegations that former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli kidnapped Tshidi Buthelezi and held her against her will for an entire year.

Meanwhile‚ Ramogibe was shot dead on February 17‚ 1999 in the company of police as he went with them to point out the scene of where he had been shot several weeks earlier as he was walking in Vosloorus. Police claimed that they had been ambushed at the scene and Ramogibe was shot dead.

An inquest cleared Mdluli of any involvement.

Tshidi died from an illness a few years after her husband died.

Earlier this week‚ her father Boy Johnson Buthelezi took to the stand where he told the court that he believed the relationship between his daughter and Mdluli was a healthy one.

"It was a good relationship. I wouldn't have agreed for Mdluli to stay with my daughter if I felt she wouldn't have been take care of‚" he added.

Buthelezi said he had heard about Tshidi's affair from another of her siblings‚  Tumelo but he claimed to have known nothing about his daughter's marriage to Ramogibe until she  died in 2003.

Mdluli came to discuss the affair with him but he never had the chance to address the matter with his daughter as she was in and out of hospital before her death.

He said his daughter never left the home she shared with Mdluli except for when she was ill and was either in hospital or with him or his estranged wife who took care of her during her illness.

Asked about Tshidi's state of health in 1998 and 1999‚ Buthelezi  said "she was 100 percent healthy". This was reportedly the time when the affair occurred.

Mdluli and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mdluli claims that this was all part of a ploy to block him from advancing to a police commissioner position. The case continues.