Ntanzi was fingered by some of the eyewitnesses as the second, tall, intruder who Meyiwa had pinned to the kitchen wall during a scuffle before he was fatally shot in October 2014.
Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli are all on trial for Meyiwa’s murder.
According to Buthelezi, Ntanzi was operating with Basotho nationals in Johannesburg, Carltonville.
“Ntanzi is a very quiet gentleman and no-one can suspect him. He is a firearm and ammunition supplier. They supply the hitmen and others firearms and ammunition around the country. Sometimes they hire firearms to hitmen,” he said.
Buthelezi said he was sometimes the middleman in Ntanzi’s gun and ammunition dealings, stating that he sometimes organised clients.
Buthelezi said he used to hang out with Ntanzi at a Vosloorus hostel but noticed that around November 2014, Ntanzi became distant and did not talk like before.
In his statement, Buthelezi claims to not know where Ntanzi got the guns from.
“He didn’t want to show me his supplier,” he said.
Buthelezi said when Ntanzi was in Rustenburg, he continued making money selling guns and supplying them in Marikana.
“Ntanzi invited me to visit him in Rustenburg at Phokeng where I overheard him talking on the phone with Maphisa that they did a good job by killing a union member in Marikana and Maphisa must make sure that Gwabeni pays them the money because he did not want to be traced with bank accounts,” read Buthelezi’s statement.
“I heard that the person that was killed was a big person and very powerful. I asked him if he was also killing people and he said to me it was a man’s job that he had to do it because he needed money to make a better living. I warned him about it,” Buthelezi said.
Further, Buthelezi said he heard that Sibiya had shot his girlfriend regarding the Meyiwa case. Buthelezi claimed that Sibiya’s father had paid off a policeman to make the case disappear.
He said he also heard of the other accused’s involvement.
“I was very angry at them because they had killed a very important person who was the national goalkeeper,” Buthelezi said.
When police visited him in 2020, Buthelezi said he co-operated with them, telling them what he knew about Ntanzi.
“I voluntarily decided to work with the police to trace Ntanzi in Rustenburg,” he said.
On June 16, Buthelezi showed police where Ntanzi was residing and positively identified him to the police.
In his statement, Buthelezi said he was prepared to take the police to meet the witness being threatened by the accused.
Despite the revelations, Ntanzi’s lawyer, advocate Mngomezulu still argued that Ntanzi was unlawfully arrested.
On Monday, Gininda told the court that Ntanzi was linked to the murder through certified sworn statements he made to witnesses and an identikit compiled from descriptions by witnesses.
Gininda said he was identified as the person with a hoodie who initially stood outside the house before the incident and ran away afterwards.
TimesLIVE
LISTEN | Witness sings from the grave, saying Meyiwa murder accused was a ‘well-known gun supplier’
Image: VELI NHLAPO
According to a witness who has since died in 2022, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi — one of the men implicated in the murder of Bafana Bafana soccer player Senzo Meyiwa — is a well-known gun supplier and hitman.
Simphiwe Buthelezi’s statement, which makes serious allegations against Ntanzi linking him to several murders, was read in the Pretoria high court by the lead investigator of the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Brig Bongani Gininda.
The statement, which was deposed during a KwaNongoma murder case had earlier caused a dispute between the state and the defence.
After about three hours of adjournment, Ntanzi’s lawyer, advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, resumed his cross-examination focusing on Ntanzi’s arrest in the 2020 KwaNongoma murder case.
He asked about how Ntanzi was connected to the case.
Mngomezulu and Gininda’s different views and interpretations of Buthelezi’s statement prompted judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng to request that the full statement be read in court.
LISTEN HERE:
Ntanzi was fingered by some of the eyewitnesses as the second, tall, intruder who Meyiwa had pinned to the kitchen wall during a scuffle before he was fatally shot in October 2014.
Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli are all on trial for Meyiwa’s murder.
According to Buthelezi, Ntanzi was operating with Basotho nationals in Johannesburg, Carltonville.
“Ntanzi is a very quiet gentleman and no-one can suspect him. He is a firearm and ammunition supplier. They supply the hitmen and others firearms and ammunition around the country. Sometimes they hire firearms to hitmen,” he said.
Buthelezi said he was sometimes the middleman in Ntanzi’s gun and ammunition dealings, stating that he sometimes organised clients.
Buthelezi said he used to hang out with Ntanzi at a Vosloorus hostel but noticed that around November 2014, Ntanzi became distant and did not talk like before.
In his statement, Buthelezi claims to not know where Ntanzi got the guns from.
“He didn’t want to show me his supplier,” he said.
Buthelezi said when Ntanzi was in Rustenburg, he continued making money selling guns and supplying them in Marikana.
“Ntanzi invited me to visit him in Rustenburg at Phokeng where I overheard him talking on the phone with Maphisa that they did a good job by killing a union member in Marikana and Maphisa must make sure that Gwabeni pays them the money because he did not want to be traced with bank accounts,” read Buthelezi’s statement.
“I heard that the person that was killed was a big person and very powerful. I asked him if he was also killing people and he said to me it was a man’s job that he had to do it because he needed money to make a better living. I warned him about it,” Buthelezi said.
Further, Buthelezi said he heard that Sibiya had shot his girlfriend regarding the Meyiwa case. Buthelezi claimed that Sibiya’s father had paid off a policeman to make the case disappear.
He said he also heard of the other accused’s involvement.
“I was very angry at them because they had killed a very important person who was the national goalkeeper,” Buthelezi said.
When police visited him in 2020, Buthelezi said he co-operated with them, telling them what he knew about Ntanzi.
“I voluntarily decided to work with the police to trace Ntanzi in Rustenburg,” he said.
On June 16, Buthelezi showed police where Ntanzi was residing and positively identified him to the police.
In his statement, Buthelezi said he was prepared to take the police to meet the witness being threatened by the accused.
Despite the revelations, Ntanzi’s lawyer, advocate Mngomezulu still argued that Ntanzi was unlawfully arrested.
On Monday, Gininda told the court that Ntanzi was linked to the murder through certified sworn statements he made to witnesses and an identikit compiled from descriptions by witnesses.
Gininda said he was identified as the person with a hoodie who initially stood outside the house before the incident and ran away afterwards.
TimesLIVE
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