Lawyer accuses Madlala of betraying Meyiwa after his death

Adv Zandile Mshololo continued from where she left off on Tuesday as she accused Tumelo Madlala of betraying his close friend and soccer star Senzo Meyiwa soon after he was killed.

Mshololo, who is cross-examining Madlala, the state witness in the Meyiwa murder trial in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, on Wednesday said Madlala no longer cared about his friendship with Meyiwa after he died.

“You ceased to be a friend after the deceased died. The manner in which you behaved yourself after he died was shocking. You received money from Netflix [for selling his pictures] and you did not share the money you got with his child, fiancée or mother,’’ said Mshololo.

Madlala denied that he betrayed the deceased.

“It is a lie that I betrayed him. I was approached by Netflix to give them his pictures and I refused. His family approached me and that’s when I gave out the pictures. They (Meyiwa family) also benefited from Netflix. If anyone had approached me for the pictures I would have refused. I did not share the money with anyone because it is my money,’’ Madlala said.

Mshololo also disputed Madlala’s notion that intruders entered the house on the night of the fatal shooting, asserting that the shooter was among those in the house. She also accused Madlala of being too drunk to know if there were intruders in the house. She also quizzed Madlala a lot about his state of sobriety during the night, but Madlala maintained that he was not too drunk to see what was happening.  

Mshololo said there were no intruders who entered the house because Madlala admitted to not hearing any noise when the intruders came into the house.

''You did not hear the noise of the door when the intruders came in because there is no intruder who entered the house. If it is true that intruders entered the house, you  would have heard the noise of the door and the burglar (door),’’ said Mshololo.

Madlala disputed this.

''I did not hear the intruders opening the door because the door was not properly closed, but I am sure that there were intruders,’’ said Madlala.

Madlala was one of the people who was present when Meyiwa was shot and killed in his girlfriend Khumalo’s mother’s house in Vosloorus on the East Rand on October 26 2014.

Other people who were in the house during the fatal incident were Khumalo, her two children, Khumalo’s sister Zandi, their mother Gladness, Longwe Twala and Meyiwa’s close friend Mthokozisi Twala.

The accused — Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli — face charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of firearms without a licence and possession of ammunition.

They have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

kokam@sowetan.co.za