Zandile Khumalo has claimed in court that Senzo Meyiwa and his lover, Kelly Khumalo, co-owned the BMW X6 which drove him to hospital before he succumbed to his injuries. The car was eventually repossessed by the bank three months after the footballer’s death.
THE HIGH Court in Pretoria has heard that slain Bafana Bafana ace goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa co-owned the BMW X6 vehicle with the mother of his child – musician and socialite Kelly Khumalo.
The claim was made by the first State witness in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Zandile Khumalo, who is Kelly Khumalo’s younger sister.
Kelly was in a romantic relationship with Meyiwa at the time of his death in 2014.
The Meyiwa murder trial had to be restarted from scratch after the previous presiding officer, Judge Tshifiwa Maumela, fell ill.
Retired judge and former soccer player Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng is the new presiding officer.
The BMW X6 in question reportedly belonged to the former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, and in the week of Meyiwa’s murder in October 2014, Meyiwa’s father Sam drove the car down to uMlazi from Joburg, before it was eventually repossessed by the bank in January 2015.
Meyiwa Sr publicly disapproved of his son dating Kelly, before and after his son’s death.
Kelly and Meyiwa have a child , Thingo, who is now nine years old.
Meyiwa was married to Mandisa Mkhize at the time of his death, and the couple had a daughter, Namhla (Nana) Meyiwa.
Zandile was on Tuesday led by the senior prosecutor, advocate George Baloyi SC Baloyi, as she started painting a picture of events that happened on October 26, 2014 – hours before Meyiwa was fatally shot at the Khumalo house in Vosloorus, Gauteng.
Relaying the events of the fateful day, Zandile told the court that Kelly told her that they were going to drop off Meyiwa before the Khumalo sisters proceed to a venue where Kelly, supported by Zandile, was set to perform.
Meyiwa was going to attend the birthday party of his Orlando Pirates teammate Rooi Mahamutsa.
“When we woke up that morning, we were preparing to go to work. I was working with Kelly. She is a singer, and I was doing much behind her brand. I was a dancer, doing management and her back-up singer,” said Zandile.
“We went into the vehicle and Kelly said we would first drop Senzo at the party where he was going.”
Baloyi asked which vehicle they were travelling in and Zandile said the BMW X6.
Baloyi went on: “And to whom did it belong?”
Zandile responded: “As far as I know both of them had signed (the purchase) for it”.
When they arrived at the venue of the party, they realised that the party had not started and they then proceeded to Dorothy Nyembe, where Kelly and Zandile performed.
The three left the venue at around 3pm.
They later picked two of Meyiwa’s friends, Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, at different locations before proceeding to the Khumalo house in Vosloorus – where Meyiwa was to meet his demise hours later.
Zandile said when the five arrived at the Khumalo homestead in Vosloorus, they opted to buy drinks and they went to a place called Kwembu’s tavern where they used R400 cash that she had.
According to Zandile, Meyiwa and Kelly did not have cash on them and the tavern did not accept bank card payments.
Earlier on Tuesday, the trial resumed with the five men accused of killing Meyiwa pleading not guilty before Judge Mokgoatlheng in the High Court in Pretoria.
Mokgoatlheng has taken over the high-profile murder case from embattled Judge Maumela, who is reportedly sick. The trial has restarted and the proceedings that happened under Maumela have been nullified.
The five men – Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifokuhle Ntuli – are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26, 2014, while at the Khumalo homestead.
In the house that day were Meyiwa, Kelly Khumalo and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi Khumalo, Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends Mthokozisi Thwala and Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
