IN PICS | Senzo Meyiwa murder accused in dock on drugs, ammo rap

Senzo Meyiwa murder trial accused Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya appeared in the Thembisa magistrate's court on Friday in a separate criminal matter.

Sibiya is on trial for alleged possession of ammunition and dealing in drugs. He was arrested in connection with this in May 2020.

While judgment on this matter was set down for Friday, the magistrate was sick. The matter has been postponed to December 12 for possible judgment if the magistrate is well enough to return to work.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the state was satisfied with the evidence presented in court.

“The decision [about] conviction is the prerogative of the court. We are in the hands of the court but we believe we have placed sufficient evidence, as the state,” she said.

Hours after his arrest in 2020, Sibiya signed a confession on his involvement in Meyiwa’s murder in 2014.

Sibiya, and another of the five accused, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, who also confessed, were said to have been at a Vosloorus hostel on October 26 2014 where the death of Meyiwa was allegedly celebrated with a bottle of whisky.

State witness Const Sizwe Skhumbuzo Zungu testified in September he was at a gathering at a hostel in Vosloorus where his nephew Sfiso Gwabeni Zungu lived. But it was years later when he realised the men he was with at the hostel were the ones who had allegedly murdered the Bafana Bafana player.

Sibiya and Ntanzi denied this through their lawyer Sipho Ramosepele, with Sibiya saying he met Zungu for the first time in 2019 when he was with Zungu’s nephew.

The Meyiwa murder trial has paused as a trial-within-a-trial is proceeding to confirm the admissibility of Sibiya and Ntanzi’s confessions. They claim they were assaulted by police and the confessions were made under duress. The case is expected to resume in January.

Sibiya is already serving a 12-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of two women.

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