Pretoria – Acting Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba has reserved judgment in the case where one of the five men arrested for the October 2014 murder of Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates ace goalkeeper Senzo Robert Meyiwa is seeking urgent release on bail.
The urgent bail application by Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi was heard in the High Court in Pretoria today.
Advocate Timothy Thobane, representing Ntanzi, proposed to the superior court that his client could raise R10 000 for bail and would not miss his court appearances for the trial.
The court also heard that Ntanzi does not have a passport and would not evade trial. It was also submitted that Ntanzi does not have previous convictions and that he was at work when he was arrested for the Meyiwa murder.
However, the State’s lead prosecutor, advocate George Baloyi, opposed bail, arguing that the case against Ntanzi was strong and there were prospects of him absconding if released on bail.
Baloyi also submitted that the court has records from Ntanzi’s previous workplace, which show that he was not at work on the day Meyiwa was murdered.
He added that there are two confessions made by Ntanzi stipulating his involvement in the crime.
Ntanzi, accused number 2 in the high-profile murder case, is the man pinpointed by Meyiwa’s friend Tumelo Madlala as one of the violent intruders on the night Meyiwa was fatally shot in Vosloorus, Gauteng.
Ntanzi, 32, did not have a criminal record before he was arrested for Meyiwa’s murder. He was nabbed in Rustenburg in 2020, where he worked in the mines.
Last month, presiding Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela postponed the trial of the five men to November 14. From the resumption date, the case is set to run until December 2.
“This matter is postponed for the purposes of further hearing, with the accused in custody. The matter is postponed to November 14, 2022. However, accused number 2, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, shall make an appearance in this court house for purposes of launching a bail application,” the judge addressed the five detained men.
At the time, the prosecution team, led by advocate George Baloyi, said arrangements had been made for Ntanzi, who is in custody, to be brought back to court for his bail bid.
Ntanzi was pointed out in court as the person who was wrestling with Meyiwa inside the Khumalo house before the footballer was shot dead.
The third State witness, Madlala, told the court that he vividly remembers Ntanzi from the October 2014 night when Meyiwa died.
Madlala insists being in the same room with Ntanzi makes him “uncomfortable”.
“That one, that man in blue or green T-shirt. That is the man who was held by Senzo. That is the man who had his beard cut,” said Madlala pointing directly at Ntanzi, who was sitting in the dock among his co-accused.
Sitting in the heavily guarded court, Ntanzi was smiling as Madlala kept accusing him.
Defence lawyers sharply objected to the identification of the accused in the court. They argued that the witness was unreliable.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26, 2014, while in the company of his girlfriend and the mother of his child, Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus.
In the house, that day were Meyiwa, Kelly and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi Khumalo (MaKhumalo), Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
Five men, Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifokuhle Ntuli, are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition.
All of the accused have pleaded not guilty.
IOL