Meyiwa trial witness insists police forced him to sign statement

FILE | A man holds Senzo Meyiwa’s picture during his memorial at the Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban.

Mandlenkosi “Shoes” Zondo, a childhood friend of accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, has maintained that police assaulted him and forced him to sign a statement that he says does not fully reflect his version of events.

Zondo has been testifying in the ongoing Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, where Ntanzi and four co-accused face charges linked to the 2014 killing of the former Bafana Bafana captain.

Meyiwa was shot and killed at the Vosloorus home of singer Kelly Khumalo’s mother on Gauteng’s East Rand.

The third day of Zondo’s testimony heard fresh allegations surrounding a statement allegedly written by a police officer during his detention.

When questioned by defence counsel, Sipho Ramosepele, Zondo told the court that parts of the affidavit presented to him were not a true reflection of what he had told investigators.

He claimed that Brigadier Bongani Gininda forced him to sign the statement without giving him an opportunity to read through it properly.

“I said this before, my lord, that at the time when the statement was written by Gininda at Yeoville, my lord, Gininda never gave me time or a chance to read the statement. He made me sign forcefully. And secondly, when he called me saying that Mr Baloyi wanted to see me, I told him again that this was not my statement. He then said, ‘let us rectify it’ because his superior wanted it. He then wrote for a very short time and said time was against him because his superior wanted him.”

Zondo further testified that the statement was altered speedily and contained information he says was incorrect. He pointed to one section of the affidavit that referred to a workplace he insists does not exist.

Ramosepele: Now, you said your first concern with the statement or document produced by Brigadier Gininda, Linda and Mr Baloyi was the fact that it mentioned that you work at this mine… Remember that?

Zondo: Yes, my lord, it’s the first paragraph.

Ramosepele: Now, you’ve adamantly said that you’ve never worked at this mine. The question is this, does this mine exist according to your knowledge?

Zondo: It doesn’t exist, my lord.