Three media houses banned from Senzo Meyiwa murder trial
Updated | By Anastasi Mokgobu and Sibahle Motha
Three media houses have been temporarily banned from covering the court proceedings of the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial in the High Court in Pretoria.
Newzroom Afrika, eNCA and SABC were asked to step out of the trial on Tuesday morning after they had earlier chased a witness for comment.
The eyewitness Tumelo Madlala, who was a long-time friend of slain Bafana Bafana captain, took to the stand in the morning.
The trial could not be heard on Monday as there were delays in getting the third State witness from KwaZulu-Natal to Pretoria.
Madlala, who is the third witness on the trial, was one of the few people who were in the house in Vosloorus when Meyiwa was shot dead.
Meyiwa was killed at the home of his then-girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, in October 2014.
Defence lawyer Zandile Mshololo demanded that the three media houses be banned from the court proceedings for harassing a witness.
State Prosecutor Advocate George Baloyi also says he was not happy that the media chased the witness.
The court decided that the witness cannot testify with the responsible media houses being in court.
Baloyi says the media houses have since apologised "for their reprehensible behaviour" and given a final warning.
However, they have been banned from the court proceedings until after lunch.
The court also asked the media houses to delete all the footage captured of Madlala and delete all the interviews with him.
#SenzoMeyiwa However Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela says setting guidelines sets a precedent that there are no guidelines that are known to the media.
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) September 13, 2022
He says that court should be able to get ahold of the footage to find "those responsible" for what transpired this morning .
#SenzoMeyiwa Maumela says that the witness who is about to testify cannot do so with the responsible media houses being in court.
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) September 13, 2022
"Those responsible for what transpired, will have to step out. They must discuss this with the court manager and discuss a way forward."
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