Senzo Meyiwa trial | State probes firearm link as Mncube’s timeline faces scrutiny

The State is stepping up its challenge to accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube, placing a previous firearm conviction, cellphone activity and disputed timelines under the spotlight in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial.

At the Pretoria High Court, prosecutor Dr Ronnie Sibanda, sought to link a firearm confiscated from Mncube in February 2015 to the weapon allegedly used to kill the Bafana Bafana captain in October 2014.

Revisiting the 2023 testimony of Sergeants, Mandla Masondo and Bhekumuzi Dlamini, Sibanda reminded the court that the firearm was confiscated from Mncube on 9 February 2015.

Although Mncube pleaded not guilty to the offence linked to the weapon, he was convicted on 27 July 2017.

Mncube disputes the State’s theory, denying that the firearm was used to kill Meyiwa and maintaining that he knows nothing about the circumstances surrounding the football star’s death.

His defence lawyer, Advocate Charles Mnisi, has also challenged the prosecutor’s line of questioning, arguing that the exercise is fruitless without expert evidence establishing a connection between the two cases.

If the firearm is one piece of the puzzle, Mncube’s whereabouts on the night of the murder are another.

The accused maintains that he was in bed in Johannesburg’s Mayfair area when Meyiwa was shot dead in Vosloorus on 26 October 2014.

He has challenged the court to examine metadata from his Samsung cellphone, insisting it will help establish his whereabouts at the time.

According to Mncube, the records should place him between Mooi Street and 4th Street in Johannesburg’s CBD.

The State is also scrutinising the timeline presented by one of its own witnesses, Zandile Khumalo, the sister of Meyiwa’s then-girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo.

Sibanda has questioned whether Khumalo’s account of the shooting aligns with the medical evidence about Meyiwa’s injuries and the time of his death.

The prosecutor argues that the injuries were too severe for Meyiwa to have survived for hours, placing his death at around 9pm. Sibanda says this timeline contradicts Khumalo’s testimony about the events of that evening.

The dispute has placed the sequence of events under renewed scrutiny, with the State challenging both Mncube’s version and the timeline surrounding the fatal shooting.

In another development in the cellphone evidence, Sibanda revisited the testimony of Vodacom forensic liaison supervisor, Pinky Vythilingum, who previously told the court that no incoming or outgoing calls or SMS messages were recorded on Mncube’s Samsung device between 8.30pm on 26 October 2014 and the morning of 27 October.

Vythilingum explained that cellphone activity can only be detected when the device is switched on.

The prosecutor then presented an image which, according to the State, was sent to Mncube’s phone from another Nokia 306 device at 8.43pm, just 13 minutes after the time Mncube says he was already in bed.

That evidence has placed Mncube’s account under further scrutiny, with the State suggesting that the message challenges his version of events.

“When you mention that time, what are you trying to say is happening there?” asked Mncube.

“You had a phone. You were using a phone and a memory card,” Sibanda responded.

“So I’m just trying to understand where the problem is right there,” Mncube probed.

“The problem lies in your version that after 20:30 you were sleeping,” Sibanda said.

Mncube, however, maintains that cellphone activity does not prove he was awake. He says being in bed did not necessarily mean he had already fallen asleep.

He has previously testified that he was in Johannesburg’s CBD with his late friend, Mabungu Ntuli, when Meyiwa was murdered in Vosloorus.

As the cross-examination continues, the State is testing Mncube’s account against forensic records, previous testimony and the disputed timeline of that night.

The central question remains whether the evidence will establish a link between Mncube, the alleged murder weapon and the events that led to Meyiwa’s death – or whether Mncube’s version will withstand the State’s scrutiny.