A relative of Oupa Ramogibe‚ the man who was married to former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli’s ex-lover‚ initially did not want to testify because she could not remember most of what happened.

This emerged on Tuesday during the cross-examination of Florina Lephage‚ who this week told the court that she had last seen Ramogibe‚ her cousin‚ when men who claimed to be police officers‚ forcefully pulled him out of her house.

Lephage is testifying in the case against Mdluli and former policeman Mthembeni Mthunzi‚ who are on trial in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg for charges relating to the 1999 kidnapping and murder of Ramogibe‚ who was married to Mdluli’s ex-lover Tshidi Buthelezi.

The men are also accused of intimidation‚ assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm‚ kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.

They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Charges against Mdluli were withdrawn in 2012‚ but reinstated last year after lobby group Freedom under Law successfully challenged the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to drop the charges.

Lephage‚ from Orange Farm‚ had earlier testified that Ramogibe regularly visited her house with his siblings. However‚ on the day she last saw him‚ Ramogibe was with a woman he introduced as his girlfriend.

She said she was seeing the girlfriend for the first time.

Under cross-examination‚ Lephage told the court that she had been hesitant to make a statement. She had initially refused to make a statement‚ but was “forced” to talk by the police and eventually she made a statement in January 2011‚ she said.

She said she had told the police officer that she could not remember what exactly had happened.

Mdluli’s lawyer Ike Motloung told her that her evidence that she had seen Ramogibe’s girlfriend once was a contradiction of what sisters Alice Manana and Sarah Ramogale had told the court.

They had testified that Buthelezi had stayed in Lephage’s house from the preceding Saturday until the Monday the police came to the house and forcefully took Ramogibe away.

Motloung asked her to comment on Manana’s testimony that by the time the police went to the house‚ Ramogibe and Buthelezi were already married.

“I don’t know‚” Lephage replied.

She also said she did not know why she had not asked the police why they were forcefully taking Ramogibe away.

The trial continues