The 7th state witness, Tumelo Madlala told the court he will never change his statements about intruders getting into the Vosloorus house when Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa was shot and killed.
Madlala, said to be Meyiwa’s childhood friend took to the stand to testify about what happened on 26 October 2014 when the soccer star was killed in what was alleged to be a botched robbery at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo:s home in Vosloorus.
On Wednesday, Madlala told court that police officer Joyce Buthelezi wanted him to make an about-turn on his statement about there being intruders in the house the night Orlando Pirates goalkeeper was gunned down but he refused.
“She (Joyce Buthelezi) actually wanted me to say that there was nobody that got into the house. She wanted me to make that statement that there was nobody that got into the house. I don’t see a reason to lie about that. I don’t even see a need to lie about that.
“Why would I lie about that and say there was nobody that got into the house knowing very well that there were people. Furthermore it was my first time going into that house. My very first time,” said Madlala.
“There are so many things that she did that were not right. I was deceived to believe that she was like a mother figure to me . I have never changed my statement. I have never changed my statement. The initial statement that I had furnished has always been like that and until such time that I pass on.
“I will never change my statement. I don’t see a need to lie before the court. I want to emphasise that very point of my statement that says there were intruders. It is indeed so, I will never change that statement. Indeed people got in the house,” Madlala told the court.
Madlala said Buthelezi took him to a witness protection program in 2019 where he stayed for three weeks. He said he opted to leave the program after Buthelezi failed to fulfill promises she had made.
Last week, the 6th witness, also Meyiwa’s close friend Mthokozisi Thwala, said Buthelezi and other police officers lured him to a Pretoria building under the pretence that he was going to identify suspects arrested in the case. Instead he was allegedly tortured by two men the whole night in the building, he said.
