By: Natasha Archary
The defence lawyer for accused No.1 in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial wants the slain footballer’s girlfriend at the time, Kelly Khumalo to be subpoenaed to court.
Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu who is representing accused 1 and 2, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Bongani Ntanzi, says he plans to call Kelly and Sello Chicco Twala, father of Longwe Twala to the stand.
However, State Advocate George Baloyi says Kelly, who is on the State’s list of witnesses will not be called to testify as it was stated from the start of the trial that she is not a suspect.
The State is alleging that Meyiwa was killed in a botched home invasion, when the five men who are on trial for his murder barged in demanding valuables and cash from the occupants of the home.
Kelly, who was pregnant with Senzo’s daughter at the time of his murder, has been implicated several times during the trial of ordering the hit on the footballer.
Kelly implicated as the one who ordered the hit on Meyiwa
Earlier this month, a second data analyst linked Kelly Khumalo to one of the five men accused of murdering footballer Senzo Meyiwa.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gideon Gouws revealed that cellphone records show that Kelly had received a late night phone call from one of the five men accused of killing Meyiwa, Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli.
The men are Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gouws, in his analysis discovered that Kelly received a call from Nkani Ntuli on 02 August 2014.
This is the second time that cellphone data picked up the reported communication between Kelly and one of the men on trial for gunning down the footballer at her family’s Vosloorus home on 26 October 2014.
In July 2023, SAPS National Cold Case Unit Colonel Lambertus Steyn, found Kelly had been called twice by accused No.5, Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli.
Steyn said the two occasions Kelly and Ntuli made contact were on, 02 August 2014, and then again on 15, October 2014, just days before he was killed.
The first call, which lasted 2-minutes, on 02 August came through to Kelly’s number at 22h47, when the mother of 3 was in Kimberley, whilst the second call was all of 98-seconds.
Kelly, who was one of the occupants inside the house, was also implicated of ordering the hit in written confessions by Sibiya and Ntanzi.
A number of Kelly’s family members were inside the house including her sister Zandie, their mother, Ntombi Khumalo, Zandie’s boyfriend at the time, Longwe Twala, and two of Meyiwa’s friends – Mthokozisi Thwala, who is also the cousin of Meyiwa’s wife, Mandisa Mkhize; as well as Tumelo Madlala, Meyiwa’s childhood friend.
Second time the unsigned warrant of arrest for Kelly is brought up
The issue of a warrant of arrest for Kelly Khumalo which was allegedly not signed nor issued after Meyiwa was killed was brought up by the defence yet again.
In 2022, Advocate Malesela Teffo who was representing four of the five men accused, indicated in documents, that an affidavit by Brigadier Gininda named Khumalo as the one who planned her boyfriend’s murder.
Brigadier Gininda was the lead investigating officer who put together the first docket.
Responding to Adv. Teffo’s new allegations against Kelly Khumalo at the time, her lawyer Magdalene Moonsamy said she was not privy to a Adv. Teffo’s letter to police requesting further clarity.
Moonsamy confirmed that she did see an unsigned warrant of arrest for Kelly Khumalo, which is from the 636 docket, but she couldn’t comment further.
Moonsamy said that she could not answer as to why the so-called warrant of arrest for her client was not signed, issued and acted upon. She said she did not answer for the National Prosecuting Authority but has reiterated that Khumalo was never accused nor named as a suspect.
The singer’s lawyer said that her client will gladly appear as a witness if there’s a need for her to.
Also read: Motorists warned of spike in hijackings at petrol stations
