Senzo Meyiwa murder trial delayed again as defence granted postponement

There have been further delays in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, which was meant to kick off on Tuesday.

Lawyers for one of the accused have requested a further postponement of five days in order to consult with some witnesses and to get further particulars from the State on the statements that they received.

Five men have been in the dock for a second day this week for the 2014 murder of the Bafana Bafana captain.

Meyiwa was gunned down at the home of his girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus East of Johannesburg.On Monday, Advocate Zandile Mshololo requested a single-day postponement to allow her time to consult with her client, Sifisokuhle Ntuli, saying that the State had withheld crucial statements until the eleventh hour.

Now she has asked the court for a further five days to prepare her defence.

“From the information that is contained in the statement, it transpired that we need to consult with the defence witnesses, some of them who are in this division and some of them who are not in this division. That, I cannot anticipate happening overnight,” Mshololo said.

But the State’s Advocate George Baloyi said that the defence was simply not ready to proceed and should not use the delivery of statements as an excuse.

Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela has granted the postponement but not without warning.

He told Advocate Mshololo that this should be the final postponement.

The trial will reconvene on 22 April.