'Photos prove I was pressurised' - Meyiwa accused

One of the accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial told the court on Wednesday that pictures submitted by the state as evidence proves that he was forced to admit to the crime.

A  day after his arrest in 2020, Muzi Sibiya was taken to different spots in Vosloorus, where he pointed out how the murder of the slain soccer star was planned and executed.

Meyiwa was shot at his ex-girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus, East Rand, on October 26 2014. Five men have since been arrested and charged with robbery, murder and attempted murder, among others.

The state alleges that Sibiya and his co-accused, Bongani Ntanzi, made confession statements admitting to the crime. However, the pair has argued that they were assaulted, threatened and tortured to make the confessions.

Sibiya told the court on Wednesday that even his body language in the pictures police took of him show that he was being forced to make the pointing out. 

“I was never calm. If we can take the pictures that I take with my phone and compare them to those shown on the screen, you can see that I was not free. There is no smile, and I am usually a person who smiles when I take pictures. I was forced and instructed to do this and that. It was Col Hadebe who instructed me.”

However, the leading investigator, Bongani Gininda, previously told the court that Sibiya, after making the confession and pointing out, seemed like a person whose burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

But Sibiya contradicted this yesterday.

Sibiya also said he cooperated with the police because he was escorted by the Tactical Response Team, and he  feared for his life because the previous day police had pointed rifles at him during his arrest.

Minutes before lunch adjournment, there was a heated disagreement between the presiding judge, Ratha Mokgoatlheng, and defence advocate Zandile Mshololo. This after the judge read on record the arrest statement that Sibiya had asked to see.

The statement caught attention when Sibiya argued that he was charged on July 26 2020, while Adv Sibanda maintained that he was charged in October 2020.

Mshololo said: “My lord, I object on the basis of fairness, that witness cannot be referred to the statement made by the arresting officer.”

Mokgoatlheng responded: “I never said he had the knowledge [of the statement]. Whatever I just read the arresting statement. Don’t accuse me of being a crook; you must never. I have over 50 years in the profession, and I have never been accused of being a crook. I am not involved in this nonsense.”