One of the lawyers linked to the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial was a crime intelligence officer who stood trial for a truck hijacking. It is understood he was acquitted of the charge.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe confirmed Ntokozo Mjiyako was a former member of the police, who was dishonourably discharged from the service in 2016.
Police had initiated disciplinary proceedings into allegations against him in which he was a suspect in a robbery with a firearm case that was possibly linked to a truck hijacking.
“He resigned before finalisation of the disciplinary case. This is regarded as a dishonourable discharge,” she said on Wednesday.
After the SAPS communication on Wednesday, that he was dismissed from the service, Mjiyako disputed this and demanded a retraction on X, formerly Twitter.
“I demand that you make public the letter of my dismissal or you retract the statement and apologise before I get to my chambers in the morning,” he posted shortly before 11pm on Wednesday, tagging Mathe.
Mathe said Mjiyako is no longer a member of the SAPS and no further comment will be provided on the matter.
The Sunday Times reported in 2015, that Mjiyako, then a legal adviser in the police’s crime intelligence division, had been arrested in 2013 for a cigarette truck hijacking incident and then suspended for alleged involvement in an armed robbery.
Mjiyako’s CV states he left with the rank of captain, after working in legal support roles in the transnational commercial crimes and crime intelligence units between 2010 and 2016.
In 2020, Mjiyako represented one of the five accused, Bongani Ntanzi, at their first appearance in the Boksburg magistrate’s court after their arrest for Meyiwa’s October 2014 murder in Vosloorus.
During the cross-examination of lead investigator Brig Bongani Gininda this week, the spotlight shone on Mjiyako.
Gininda was testifying in a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confession statements made Ntanzi and another accused Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya. The two claimed confessions were made under duress and Ntanzi alleged Mjiyako had no mandate to represent him in 2020.
Mjiyako was present when Ntanzi made an alleged confession before a Boksburg magistrate on June 24 2020. Mjiyako also represented Ntanzi in his appearance before the Boksburg magistrate’s court on October 27 2020.
However, despite court records showing Mjiyako came on the record for Ntanzi on October 27 2020, Ntanzi’s current lawyer, Adv Thulani Mngomezulu, tried to argue before the Pretoria high court last week that Mjiyako had not legally been given a mandate to represent Ntanzi.
Further, Mngomezulu argued Ntanzi had tried to get the magistrate’s attention to raise concern about Mjiyako’s representation on October 27 2020, but this was dismissed by the magistrate.
After turning to court records to try to prove his argument, Mngomezulu closed his cross-examination this week without pursuing the line of questioning from the records.
In the audio record played in the magistrate’s court in October 2020, Ntanzi could be heard stating: “He [Mjiyako] wanted me to plead guilty to the murder charges, that is why he ran away.”
The Legal Practice Council has confirmed that Mjiyako is registered as an advocate and was admitted as legal practitioner on March 26 2012.
Mjiyako was arrested in 2013 for a cigarette truck hijacking incident and then suspended from the police before leaving the service.
According to Thulamela Chambers, Mjiyako’s areas of specialisation include commercial law, labour law, public law, tax law, insolvency law, customary law and criminal law.
He has an LLB degree, and a postgraduate diploma in management in the field of security, both from Wits University, as well as an MPhil in development policy and practice from the University of Cape Town.
“In 2012 he was admitted as an attorney and converted to become an advocate in 2021. He became a member of the Cape Bar and the Johannesburg Society of Advocates in 2022.”
He was a pupil advocate under the Cape Bar from January 2021 to January 2022.
From April 2017 to December 2020, Mjiyako worked as a director of executive support at the City of Johannesburg.
From August 2010 to October 2016, he served as a legal administration officer and investigator of transnational commercial crimes in the police under the division of crime intelligence, operational legal support and Interpol Pretoria.
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