An admin clerk has recalled Mthokozisi Ntumba’s last moments before he was shot and killed, allegedly by police officers, during a student protest last year in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Lerato Mokoena, an employee at MyClinic Health Care in Braamfontein, where Ntumba was seen by a doctor on the fateful day, was the first witness to take the stand in the high court in Johannesburg yesterday in the trial against four police officers accused of murdering Ntumba.

Tshepiso Kekana, 27, Cidraas Motseothatha, 43, Madimetja Legodi, 37, and Victor Mohammed, 51, face a charge of murder and three counts of attempted murder for the March 10 incident and

have pleaded not guilty.

“The deceased arrived at the clinic around 10am... After he consulted, I buzzed (opened the door for him) him out. A few minutes later, I heard gunshots, looked up from my work station to see what was happening.

"From the glass door of the clinic, I saw a big police vehicle parked on the street not far from the pavement and students running in different directions,” said Mokoena.

“When I was inside the clinic I could see him [Ntumba] walking slowly while carrying his plastic bag with his prescription tablets and him holding onto his chest.

"I went outside to see what was happening and saw the deceased lying on the ground. His spectacles were broken, he had a bloody wound on the right side of the eye and a stain of blood on his chest,” said Mokoena.

She said she then took Ntumba’s cellphone, plastic bag with tablets and car keys and rushed back to the clinic.

“I told a security guard from the school [Johannesburg Institute of Engineering and Technology] next door to keep an eye on the deceased while I go call the doctor.

“The doctor told me to fetch him gloves and an apron so that he can attend to the deceased. I stayed inside and called the ambulance. Two ambulances then arrived and I was busy inside the clinic giving one of the paramedics the details of the deceased while the doctor was treating him outside. By the time I went outside, I heard that he [Ntumba] had died,” Mokoena said.

During cross-examination,

Kekana’s lawyer Thomas Mohope asked: “Do you know what the doctor did when he went outside? Do you know how he treated the deceased?”

Mokoena said she did not know.

The trial is expected to continue today with Dr Tebogo Sedibe, who examined Ntumba after he was shot during the protest over non-registration and historical debt, taking the stand. 

The state is expected to hear evidence from 19 witnesses ranging from police, security guards, students and staff at the clinic.

The trial will run for 38 days.

Earlier, judge Mawabo Malangeni granted the media permission to take pictures of the accused and broadcast the proceedings.

However, Malangeni said the media was not allowed to take pictures or videos of the judge and lawyer of accused 4.