It took a journalist less than three hours to locate the house of a state witness with crucial evidence in the murder trial of Mthokozisi Ntumba after law enforcement agencies failed to find him for four months despite having unlimited tracing resources.
Naresh Suredin, a technician, was expected to be one of the key witnesses who would have given testimony about CCTV footage which would have shed more light on, and possibly identify, the officers who shot Ntumba outside MyClinic HealthCare in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, in March 2021. Ntumba was shot during a student protest against historic debt.
On Tuesday, the Johannesburg high court acquitted the officers — Tshepiso Kekana, 27, Cidraas Motseothatha, 43, Madimetja Legodi, 37, and Victor Mohammed, 51 — on charges of murder and three counts of attempted murder of TVET college students. The court said none of the state witnesses could identify the officers as the people who killed Ntumba.
A source close to the case said Suredin could not be reached on his phone and at the address he gave and, through the SA Revenue Service, they discovered he has six addresses in Lenasia but could still not locate him.
However, on Thursday it took Sowetan little effort to meet and speak to three people in Lenasia and find Suredin's house. This after Sowetan used one address which was on the state witness list under Suredin's name to trace him.
Sowetan quickly established the street name on the list does not exist in the area and used only the house number to narrow down its search. A house with the same number was found on a different street. A neighbour confirmed the people who live in the light-brown house are technicians who specialise in surveillance and access control space.
A car was seen coming out of the house and its occupant, who later turned out to be Suredin's son, confirmed who Suredin was. But he said he was not in the house.
Sowetan went to the house and met Suredin's relatives, including his wife. She said her husband never wanted to testify in the trial. “All he did was to download the footage and gave it to police,” she said.
This matter is bigger than you think. The video shows what happened on that day and police negligence
— Naresh Suredin
Suredin called his wife and told Sowetan: “I was never subpoenaed by any court to come and testify. This matter is bigger than you think. The video shows what happened on that day and police negligence.”
In another call made to him in the afternoon, Suredin said: “I received one call from the Ipid [Independent Police Investigative Directorate] some time last year. They told me I must be available to testify in court. I had no problem with that.
“I was ready to testify in the case. But I was never called or given a date of when I should come and testify.”
Sowetan also established that Suredin has been running his company for 15 years.
Suredin said the address the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had on its list was not the address he gave them.
When asked about Suredin early this week, NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said: “The NPA respects the court's decision and justice has prevailed. We will study the judgment to determine whether it can be taken on appeal. This is the only response I can give. The rest, no comment.’’
Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping said they would only comment once they had studied the judgment.
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