Cape Town - Vuyile Maliti from Khayelitsha, a central figure in the State’s case against the men accused of the murder of criminal lawyer advocate Pete Mihalik, took the stand in the Western Cape High Court to tell his version of events.
Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Maliti are facing five counts including the murder of Mihalik on October 30, 2018, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
During the trial, the State led evidence pointing the finger at Maliti as the person who gave his two co-accused the instruction to “kill the white man”.
Maliti earlier brought an application to be discharged from the allegations but did not succeed, as Acting Judge Constance Nziweni made a ruling that he did have a case to answer.
In a black T-shirt, black track pants and black sneakers, Maliti spoke plainly and to the point in the witness box, as he explained his understanding of the “black market”.
In simple terms he said the black market is where items were bought and sold “with no papers”.
He testified the reason for his communication with Biyela on October 29 and 30 was to assist him to sell gold coins. He said when he met Biyela and Khumalo after they arrived in Cape Town they had held discussions in his vehicle.
“They first asked how much, but then I told them I can’t give them a specific amount, but I’ll make some calls and get the best price and take a 20% cut.”
He said Biyela had 11 coins stashed in his jacket pocket, and Khumalo had eight.
Maliti mentioned three new names during his testimony: “Bafo/ Nkosi”, the man who put him in contact with Biyela; “Mohamed”, his usual contact whom he testified that he often had “black market” dealings with, and who operated in the CBD; and “Baba”, the man who Maliti testified was in the car with him when he was pulled over for ignoring a stop sign in Ebenezer Road, Green Point.
He testified that on October 30, 2018, he met Khumalo and Biyela while he was parked close to the Spar supermarket in Green Point, which he identified as the “main road”.
Maliti said: “We sat in the car while waiting for Biyela and Khumalo to arrive, then they arrived, we offered them R180000 as we planned. They refused. R190 000 they also refused, and he said he was not taking anything less than R200000.
“We discussed. So the person that was talking was Biyela, and then we agreed on that R200000. And then, if I remember correctly, he requested more coins and then Khumalo said let them finish with the first transaction, then proceed to his coins,” Maliti said, speaking Xhosa interspersed with English.
Referring to why he thought Khumalo was hesitant to make the sale, Maliti said: “In my thinking, I thought that maybe Khumalo thought if this transaction doesn’t materialise then at least he would know that he had his coins, because I think he had an issue of trusting.
“When we finished we left because there was a lot of traffic on that particular day. I went towards the traffic department road, then I got near the traffic department. Soon after, I got stopped by Mr Makutu,” Maliti said.
The trial continues on March 22.