Mshololo calls Zandile Khumalo's testimony 'a fabrication'

Advocate Zandile Mshololo, who is representing one of five men accused of killing footballer Senzo Meyiwa in 2014, has accused state witness Zandile “Zandi” Khumalo of fabricating her evidence.

She failed to give a full description of the clothes worn by the second suspect.

Mshololo said the reason she could not do so was because “there was no second suspect, you are fabricating your story”.

But Khumalo maintained she was telling the truth and had no intention to lie to the court.

Her evidence was two intruders barged into her mother's Vosloorus house in October 2014 and one of them shot dead Meyiwa who was her sister Kelly Khumalo's boyfriend. This was after they had demanded money and cellphones. 

She testified three gunshots went off that night. 

The two women, their mother, Meyiwa, Zandile's boyfriendLongwe Twala and two of Meyiwa's friends from KwaZulu-Natal, Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, had reportedly been in the house drinking and watching soccer at the time of the attack. 

In her cross-examination on Monday, Mshololo started by introducing a letter of the decision by the national director of public prosecution on the “second docket's” status, saying a decision on the docket in which all occupants in the house are suspected, including a neighbour, will be made when the trial is concluded.

Mshololo scrutinised Khumalo's testimony, probing further on the amount of alcohol consumed by the occupants of the house.

Khumalo said the only person not drinking that day was her mother.

She has previously testified that she drank three cans of alcohol, but maintained she was not drunk.

Mshololo also focused on the crime scene being cleaned as she read some statement made by Khumalo's neighbour which revealed the home was cleaned before police responded to the scene.

Khumalo said she could not testify about something said by someone else as she was not there.

Responding to a statement by Thwala in which he said the first intruder said “voetsek, cellphones and money”, Khumalo said she did not hear insults but only heard “take out money and cellphones”.

Mshololo probed her on why she could not see whether the second intruder was armed as per Thwala's statement which said the intruder had a knife. She testified all she saw was his face.

Khumalo testified the second suspect had a hoodie, and when asked how the suspect wore the hoodie, she said as it covered his head, it ended up on his forehead.

“I saw the face clearly, the hoodie ended up where the hair starts, from the forehead to the chin I saw clearly,” she said.

However, when asked about the colour of the hoodie, she said it had been eight years and colours fade, adding as it was a traumatic experience she still remembers the face.

Disputing this, Mshololo said there was no way she could be able to look at the face of a person and “be unable to describe the type of hat he is wearing, that is impossible”.

Khumalo said when the first gunshot went off she ran into the bathroom while Madlala ran into the bedroom, leaving the two intruders in the kitchen with Meyiwa, Thwala, Kelly and her mother as the fight continued.

Mshololo argued that as Khumalo was hiding in the bathroom when the other shots went off, she cannot dispute if one of the people inside the house disarmed the suspect and shot Meyiwa.

“You can't deny that," Mshololo said.

Prosecutor advocate George Baloyi objected, saying there was no basis for this. Mshololo said it was for the witness to respond and she can say so if she is not able to.

Responding, Khumalo said: “When I moved away from there [kitchen], Senzo and suspect one are the ones who were fighting for the gun, so from my understanding, are you suggesting that as I left Senzo with suspect one fighting for the gun, it means Senzo took it and shot himself?”

Mshololo pointed out to her she was not the one asking questions.

“Since you had left and were in the bathroom when the other shots [went off] would you be able to dispute that the firearm was disarmed by one of the people who were inside the house who were attacking the intruders, disarmed the suspect and shot Senzo?” she said.

After further objections by Baloyi, Mshololo said it was for the witness to respond. 

“This is a crucial witness who was inside the house,” she said.

Going through what she said in her testimony when she heard the first shot, Khumalo conceded she did not see what happened after she hid in the bathroom.

However, she said she remembers leaving Kelly behind in the kitchen.

“Since Kelly was in the kitchen when the deceased was shot and you had ran into the bathroom, you did not see if Kelly was able to disarm the firearm from the suspect and shot at the deceased,” Mshololo said.

Baloyi said there was no such evidence, but Mshololo said it was not speculation but part of the cross-examination.

“The witness was there, it's for the witness to comment if she witnessed that and if she cannot comment it's for the witness to say that,” she said.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday. 

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