Muzi Sibiya says questions on pro forma document were 'never asked'

Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, the first accused in the murder of soccer star Senzo Meyiwa, has told the Pretoria high court that questions in the pro forma document allegedly answered by him before he made a confession were never asked.

While he concedes that Col Mhlanganelwa Mbotho did ask him questions that he can't remember while writing down on a document, he said he doesn't remember being asked the questions in the document as read out by the state in court.

“I don't remember the questions posed to me by Mbotho. I don't remember, but the questions read by the state, I don't recall Mbotho asking me,” he said.

He further said that as Mbotho interacted with him, he was writing on the document.

Sibiya told the court he never wrote a statement confessing to the murder of Meyiwa and did not know what was written in the statement handed to him by Mbotho to sign.

“I never wrote a statement. He only provided documents and said I must sign. When I signed, the document was completed,” he said.

The court previously heard Sibiya and co-accused Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi had confessed to knowing the circumstances of Meyiwa's murder in Vosloorus in 2014. However, they alleged they were forced to do so after being beaten by police officers.

The court is hearing evidence on the admissibility of the confession statements they allegedly made.

Sibiya alleges that plastic-bag torture was used to force him to sign the pre-written confession, which was false as he knew nothing about the footballer's murder.

During cross-examination, advocate Ronnie Sibanda, standing in for state prosecutor advocate George Baloyi, put it to Sibiya that the document was completed by Mbotho during the interview or statement-taking with him.

“This is the same document you signed and [on which you gave] your thumbprint,” Sibanda said.

However, Sibiya insisted that the questions were not asked.

Sibiya said he would have remembered had he been asked these questions. 

According to Gininda, Sibiya was first linked to the Meyiwa case after he boasted to individuals closely associated with him in KwaZulu-Natal about his involvement in the murder with the other accused. When there was a dispute among them, they told police about his admissions.

In the alleged confession, he implicated Meyiwa's then girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, as the person who gave them the instruction to kill Meyiwa.

Meyiwa, who had fathered a child with Khumalo, was shot dead at Khumalo's mother's house in Vosloorus. Khumalo and other people present during the shooting claimed Meyiwa was killed in a robbery gone wrong. 

The trial continues.

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