HR manager's testimony knocks Ntanzi's alibi for night of Meyiwa murder

The alibi that Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi provided for the night of Senzo Meyiwa's murder has been questioned.

Ntanzi is one of five men accused in the soccer star's October 2014 murder and had been identified as the intruder who tussled with Meyiwa on that night.  

An HR manager at Sibanye Stillwaters' gold division, where Ntanzi was employed at the time, told the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday that Ntanzi did not report for duty that night. In his bail application last year, Ntanzi told the court in an affidavit that he was at work at the Rustenburg mine on the night of the murder.

But HR manager Hendrik Louis Mulder told the court Ntanzi was “not rostered to be at work that day”.

Furthermore, Mulder testified that Ntanzi had applied for unpaid leave from October 27 — the day after the murder — to October 31 2014, citing personal problems. Mulder said Ntanzi's supervisor had approved the five days of leave. 

At the time, Ntanzi was working as a stoping labourer and had been with the company from April 18 2009. 

Mulder, who has been with the company for 29 years, took the court through the mine's system report which logs the workers' clock-in and clock-out records. It was through these that he could testify that Ntanzi was not on the premises on the night in question. 

Mulder indicated that Ntanzi was employed in the company until February 18 2016 when he was fired  for absconding.

Zooming in on Ntanzi's clocking records, Mulder said Ntanzi had not finished a complete shift on Saturday October 25 2014 — the day before the murder.

According to the information on the record, Ntanzi had clocked in about 3:55am and clocked out about 06:01am — meaning he worked only two hours that day.

Mulder said there was no further clocking in from Ntanzi between October 26 and November 1 2014.

Mulder said the normal Saturday shift was four hours and anything less would be considered a half shift.

The next recorded clocking of Ntanzi was on November 2 at 9.15pm.

In his defence, Ntanzi's attorney, Sipho Ramosepele, said the Sunday on which Ntanzi didn't clock in was a non-working day for him as stipulated in his contract — and Mulder confirmed that.

Further, Ramosepele said, the other days Ntanzi didn't clock in was because he was on leave and had travelled home.

“I can confirm his non-clocking was because he was on leave but I cannot confirm his whereabouts,” Mulder said.

Ramosepele said Ntanzi didn't clock in on Saturday November 1 because it was his Saturday off as he had worked the previous Saturday, before he left.

Mulder confirmed that employees worked one Saturday and had the next off.

Continuing in his client's defence, Ramosepele said Ntanzi had left early on November 25 because he had permission from his supervisor. He said it was normal for people travelling out of the province to get prior approval from their supervisor to leave early.

Mulder said it would be unjust for him to refuse or confirm that there was that kind of an arrangement.

He confirmed that, in this case, the permission was not documented and anyone who leaves early without permission would prompt the company to take disciplinary action. 

Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng asked Mulder to provide Ntanzi's payslip together with an affidavit.

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