He says that the headmaster of Mpumulwane Primary, KwaMaphumulo, Mr. Sithembiso Khumalo, who is facing the charge of impeachment of the police officer of the Durban Council, Captain Zwelakhe Thomas Ntombela, is being blamed for the meat he did not eat. He said this at the Durban High Court yesterday.
It will be remembered that the deceased was shot dead in an incident that took place in May 2023 at his home in S, Mlaza. He was rushed to Siphingo Medical Towers which is where the accident happened.
It was the first time that Khumalo entered the box since the trial began. Khumalo is out on bail and this case is still in the Mlaza Magistrate’s Court in 2023.
Before entering the box, his lawyer, Advocate Mdu Mvune, had filed a request to be brought forward without testifying, which the court rejected and Khumalo entered the box like that.
Khumalo started by pointing out that Mzo Ntombela, the bull who pleaded guilty and was sentenced, is his neighbor, as well as Khulani Cele, the bull who is serving time in prison, he also said that he is his neighbor.
When asked if she knew Mrs Faith Ntombela she said she did not but before her husband was killed she had seen him in Dukuza.
He told the court that he does not even know the police officer in question, and he does not know the place where she was said to have been killed.
”I don’t know the person you are talking about and the place you are talking about where the incident took place,” he said while answering questions from his lawyer, Advocate Mvune.
When asked if he wanted to say anything about the killing of the deceased, he said there was nothing because he did not know anything and was confused as to why he was linked to this case. “First of all, what would I get for killing a stranger,” he asked.
He said he first saw Faith when he received a call from Cele who asked him to go to Mega City, Mlaza to get a car.
”When he called me, he told me that he bought a car that I need to pick up from Mega City. Because I didn’t want to go alone, I asked Mzo to go with him as Cele also knew Mzo because we are all related,” he says.
He said Cele kept calling them to see where they were.
”What I noticed was that he was calling using different phones. When we passed the Gateway, he told me that I would find the car parked near the garage in Mega City,” he explained.
Continuing, he said he also told him that he would meet a short, poor woman, wearing white sneakers and who would be driving a Mercedes Benz.
“He told me that was his wife,” said Khumalo.
”Indeed, as soon as I arrived, this car pulled up and the same woman I was told about got out. I asked him who he was and he replied that I should ask the person who sent me,” he said.
He said they took the car with them to Kwa Maphumulo, driven by Mzo who had received an order to take it to Cele’s premises.
The next day he said he was shocked when he said he was going out of his yard attracted by Creta in Silver Gray and Faith and Cele’s sister were there.
”They told me that they have found someone who will drive the car for them and they have to go back,” he explained. When asked about his relationship with Mzo, he said that he used to work for him repairing cars but he fired him after he stole his car. ”But he apologized and I allowed him to come back to work,” he said.
When asked if he and Cele or Faith ever discussed a plot to kill the deceased, he said nothing. Cele told us that he is a neighbor and he wants me to inform him about what is happening in his family. We did not communicate with Faith,” she said.
Advocate Mvune yesterday told the court not to use the evidence before it which was presented by Faith and Mzo complaining that it was conflicting and weak.
He gave examples where the evidence presented by these conflicted.
First of all, he first spoke about how Faith in her sworn statement admitted to the crime and revealed that her husband was abusing her, but when she testifies in the box, she says that her relationship with the deceased was very good until the time when he died.
He went on to say that in his confession statement, Faith said that it was agreed that the ox Mzo would be paid R150 000 if he successfully carried out the task of searching for the deceased, but when he stood in the box he said he knew nothing about the financial agreement regarding the payment of the ox.
Mvune continued and said that Mzo in the statement said that it was Khumalo who gave him the gun and the ammunition.
”In a statement, Mzo said he even put the bullets in the gun himself. But when he is standing in the box he changes and says that Khumalo put the bullets in,” explained Mvune.