The identity of a Durban man who was allegedly affiliated to an apartheid-era police unit behind the 1989 murder of a teenage activist was the point of contention at the Durban magistrate's court this week.
An eyewitness pointed to Wesley “Matiri” Madonsela as the man responsible for the murder of 17-year-old Siphelele Nxumalo, an activist and member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), on February 2 1989 on Road 12 in Chesterville, Durban.
The state is alleging Nxumalo was killed by Madonsela because of his activism with the UDF, which was affiliated to the ANC at the time. Madonsela was allegedly part of an “A-Team” working with the Natal security branch.
According to a postmortem report, Nxumalo died from gunshot wounds in the head, chest and abdomen.
Appearing before magistrate BK Khumalo, Madonsela pleaded not guilty to the charge. He confirmed, via an affidavit, that he was arrested for the charge a day after Nxumalo's murder in 1989.
Phumelele Miya was Nxumalo’s girlfriend at the time. Now aged 50, she took to the dock as an eyewitness to her boyfriend's killing. She told the court that she was with him on the night of the incident.
Miya, who was 16 at the time, told the court they were standing on steps in a passage near Road 12 when Madonsela and three others approached them from the bottom of the steps.
“They slowed down as they got closer and he [Nxumalo] pulled me towards him so they did not pass in between us,” she said.
Nxumalo had come to see her outside her home and they proceeded to the steps when he asked her to accompany him, she said.
She identified the four as Madonsela and three others who she named as Kuben, Msafo and Ee. She said she was able to identify them because street lights were on. She said the four stopped when they reached them and when Nxumalo asked what the matter was, two pulled out guns and shot him.
“Matiri took a firearm from his jacket and then I heard a gunshot. Kuben followed suit. Siphelele fell and I ran away to a bushy area nearby. Matiri and Kuben went close to where Siphelele had fallen and continued to fire shots at him, both of them [did].”
It's possible you were not at the scene where Siphelele was shot. It is possible you were coached and trained because you were not there
— Defence attorney Bongani Cele
Miya said she came out of hiding once the four had left the scene and ran home.
“I was trembling and scared.”
She met her cousin, who she only identified as Sbhonda, on the way and told him what had happened. Sbhonda told her to go home and said he would fetch one of Nxumalo’s friends to check on him.
“They came back and told me Siphelele had passed away. The police came to my house that same night and took me to a soldier’s camp in Chesterville to take my statement.”
She said she knew the four as they were all growing up in the same area and they had not covered their faces on the night. She said they were all friends with the victim and she initially relaxed when she saw it was them before they started shooting.
She confirmed the man in the witness box, Madonsela, was “Matiri”. The other three had since passed away, she said. She said she hadn’t seen Madonsela for a few years after the incident, before she starting seeing him regularly again.
Miya was shown a photo album compiled by the police in 1989 and another from 2022 and she was able to identify sites and points.
During cross-examination, defence attorney Bongani Cele poked holes in Miya’s statement from 1989. After confirming it was the same statement read to her in the presence of her aunt, Cele asked her to compare its materials to the testimony she had just presented.
She pointed out she had given the home addresses of the four alleged perpetrators in paragraph 3 of the statement even though she had just said she didn’t know their house numbers, only the street names, and named one person as Mlungisi.
“I never told them Matiri’s house number because I didn’t know it. I only know he lived on Road 18. I never mentioned any house number nor the name Mlungisi,” said Miya.
Cele said the statement claims Miya and Nxumalo were on opposite sides of the passage when the incident happened, contrary to Miya’s testimony that Nxumalo had pulled her to his side when the four came closer.
“You are saying what is written on paragraph 4 was not your words, yet you say it was still fresh on your mind when you made the statement?”
The state prosecutor objected to Cele’s questioning, indicating there may have been issues when the statement was translated.
Miya confirmed her statement was taken by a Zulu man and was written in isiZulu.
Cele questioned why she did not point out there were discrepancies with the statement when the prosecution presented it in its current form before the trial. He said Miya had previously testified in a trial pertaining to the matter where the accused, who she had pointed out, was acquitted.
“I had told the police it was Kuben but the police arrested his brother. I did say it was him because they looked similar and I didn’t know he had a brother,” she responded.
Cele said according to the statement, Miya said Nxumalo had come to fetch her from her home to his not just to see her. She denied ever saying that either.
He asked her if she had been to the family of the victim to tell them what had happened and she said she told his mother some days later. He said Nxumalo’s mother would testify Miya had never told her.
Cele said there were many contradictions between Miya’s oral evidence and portions of the statement. He said Miya did not know the names of the perpetrators at the time and suggested she was coached to identify them.
“It's possible you were not at the scene where Siphelele was shot. It is possible you were coached and trained because you were not there,” Cele said. “I’m putting it to you it was suggested to you who are the perpetrators in this matter.”
Madonsela is out on bail. The matter was postponed to Friday.
Since the murder was committed in 1989 before the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, where the minimum sentence for murder is life imprisonment, the court agreed the sentencing proceedings would depend on the discretion of the magistrate ruling over the matter.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkissoon-Kara said Madonsela was released on bail after his arrest but absconded.
“It was only during the running of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission where people were profiled and investigated that Madonsela was rearrested this year,” she said.
“The NPA is involved with stakeholders and we’re aiming to bring atrocities that took place during the apartheid regime to light, bring relevant people to be prosecuted, bring justice and also for the families of those victims to get some sort of peace.”
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