Durban — An accused in the murder trial of an off-duty Durban Public Order policeman who was killed at the height of the July unrest has told the court he had only learned that the officer’s car was going to be torched once they had stopped at the scene of Canyon Quarry on Milkway Road in Dassenhoek.
So far the court has heard how Zolani Leadus Zuma was first shot in Tshelimnyana, near Marianhill before his body was stuffed into two refuse bags and he was loaded into the boot of his VW Polo that was torched in Canyon Quarry.
Sibusiso Ndlela and his co-accused, Mzikayifani “Kayelihle” Ndebele, are on trial in relation to his murder and kidnapping.
It’s alleged that Zuma had been driving in his blue VW polo dressed in civilian clothes on the night of July 13.
While driving he came across Ndebele and the assailants who were helping people transport looted goods in a car that Afrika Mthembu was driving. The policeman followed them to a house in Tshelimnyama.
At the house, the officer confronted Mthembu and the assailants, producing his state firearm. Ndebele disarmed Zuma and allegedly shot him, and in the process a shot hit his uncle Mthembu in the knee.
Mthembu was rushed to St Mary’s Hospital by his son Lungelo and his nephew Nzuzo Khethokuhle Mngadi.
Zuma’s car was found burnt the following day, and his charred body was discovered in the boot. Ndebele stands accused of the attempted murders of Zuma and his uncle, while his co-accused Ndlela is charged with kidnapping and murdering Zuma.
He began leading evidence of his version of events on Wednesday where he said that after they returned from the hospital he went into Mthembu’s house and the wounded Zuma was still by the gate where he had been before they left for the hospital.
Ndlela also said that Ndebele stayed behind at the hospital with Mthembu. He said that he had gone into the house to check on Mthembu’s sister, as he had asked him to do so.
Ndlela said while seated in the house lounge, he saw Nzuzo Mngadi, a State witness, outside carrying refuse bags.
“When I arrived back at the scene at that time the injured person was longer where I had seen him. Mngadi still had the plastics I had seen him with earlier. I asked Duve where the injured person was and he told me he was inside the boot, they had put him there. Me and Samu got into the back seat of the Polo, Lungelo was driving the truck and Duve was driving the Polo. I thought we were taking him to the hospital because when I asked Duve about the man, he said the man was inside the boot and he was bleeding heavily,” he said.
Ndlela said that while still in Tshelimnyama the Polo stalled, and Duve said it was a problem with the clutch, and Lungelo had to use a rope to pull the Polo with the truck.
“We then got out of the car, I thought maybe we had stopped there to check the pedals to see what the problem was. Once out of the car, Duve took a small white piece of material, I can’t recall if he got it from the Polo or the truck. At that time I can’t remember if I had asked him, but that’s when I heard him saying that he was going to burn the Polo. This was the first time that day I heard him say that.”
The trial continues.
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