Senzo Meyiwa accused loses bid to have charges dropped
Accused number four in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, has lost his bid to have the charges against him dropped.
Maphisa applied for a Section 174 discharge under the Criminal Procedure Act.
However, on Tuesday, Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng dismissed the application in the High Court in Pretoria, saying he believed there was prima facie evidence that needed answers.
Maphisa had argued that the state had failed to link him to the alleged plot to kill the former Bafana Bafana captain in October 2014.
But Judge Mokgoatlheng told the court that he was unable to rule on the merits of the testimony given by the prosecution’s star witness, Constable Sizwe Zungu, who claimed that he was with the five accused on the day of Meyiwa’s murder, but was too scared to report them.
“I don't have to delve into the other aspects of this, and subsequently, I cannot discharge him; there is evidence that a reasonable litigant needs to confront.”
Meyiwa was shot dead at his girlfriend's home, Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus in 2014.
Meanwhile, Lumka Mahanjana of the National Prosecuting Authority described the High Court's decision as encouraging.
“This is the second hurdle that the state needed to jump. The first hurdle was the admissibility of the confession statement, which was admissible; now it was this 174 application which the court had dismissed,” said Mahanjana.
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