The state’s first witness was put through his paces in the trial of Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and his four co-accused on Tuesday, with the defence questioning whether the scene of the Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni shooting was ever properly secured.
Advocate Riaan Gissing, for alleged gunman Musa Kekana, spent the afternoon picking apart security guard Bethuel Mzamo Cele’s account of the night of August 10 2022, when gunmen with AK-47s opened fire at the Centurion Golf Estate.
The state alleged the shooting was an attempted hit on Sibanyoni, ordered by Matlala.
It is one of 25 charges the five accused pleaded not guilty to on Monday. Eleven carry a possible life sentence.
Matlala, in his checked jacket, followed the day’s evidence closely from the dock, scribbling notes and working through a file, with his wife and co-accused Tsakani Matlala beside him in a crisp pinstriped suit and tie, and fellow accused Nthabiseng Zandile Nzama alongside her in a patterned jumper.
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH/IOL
The gallery was near full, with the trial, which started on Monday, continuing to pull a crowd of reporters, family members, alleged victims and curious members of the public.
Cele conceded under cross-examination the scene was only secured once police arrived, and that he had not restricted access in the moments after the gunmen’s BMW sped off.
“Can you restrict someone to go to his own residence?” Cele said when pressed on why he had not shut the area down.
He also conceded he could not say how long it took police to arrive, telling the court he suspected the questions were designed to catch him out on timings.
“Sir, I’m not here to catch you [out],” Gissing said.
“I’m here to get the truth from you. Are you hesitant to tell the truth?”
Cele said: “I’m telling you the truth.
“As I took an oath before this honourable court, what I said is the truth.”
At one stage, Cele’s answers led to objections from two defence advocates over his language.
It came after Cele, asked whether police had collected the spent cartridges from his own firearm, said he could not tell whose cartridges the officers were picking up.
“Whether they were picking my cartridges or whoever’s cartridges, I don’t know… that is not my business,” he said.
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH/IOL
Advocate Timothy Chauke, for Nzama, said “that’s not my business” was the direct translation of what the witness had said in isiZulu, and objected to the manner in which it was delivered.
“These are not comments that we can expect to be used in a courtroom,” Chauke said.
“Much as he wants to be respected, I’m going to ask this honourable court that he must be warned to respect learned colleagues.
“If he cannot respect my learned colleague, he’s not going to respect me.”
Advocate Annelene van den Heever, for Matlala and Tsakani, jumped up on the instruction of her instructing attorney, telling the court her own isiZulu was limited.
“My instructions are that the manner in which this witness is responding to and referring to is quite derogatory if one takes into account the vernacular and the language that’s used,” she said.
Earlier, Cele had complained that fingers were being pointed at him, telling the court the experience of testifying had brought back memories.
“Previously, my lord, I received some strange calls, and that makes me really to abhor courts, no, rather to hate courts,” he said.
Van den Heever objected, pointing out the number of cameras trained on proceedings.
“On our side, no one has pointed a finger at the witness, and I want the record to reflect that, because it is important that the record reflects that the conduct that’s been complained of by the witness has not happened in this court,” she said.
Judge Cassim Moosa told Cele that whenever he experienced such conduct, he should immediately bring it to the court’s attention with a specific explanation.
Gissing also went through the chain of evidence from the night of the shooting, step by step.
Cele confirmed he had been a security officer for about 19 years at the time, having started in 2003, and that he no longer works for Bidvest Protea Coin, for reasons unrelated to the incident.
He told the court his 9mm pistol had been booked out to him that day in the company’s firearm register, along with two magazines, one loaded with 10 rounds and one with five, matching the 15 shots he testified to firing.
After the shooting, he said, he handed the pistol to his manager, one Mr Greyling, who locked it away at the scene before police took it for ballistic testing.
Greyling has separately been described in court as the custodian of the video footage the state wants to introduce, and is expected to testify later in the trial.
Cele said police collected cartridges at the scene, but that he had pointed out only where the incident happened and where he had lain firing, not his own spent cartridges, as only a ballistics expert could tell them apart.
He also said residents had been too afraid to leave the estate during the shooting, while people continued entering the premises before police cordoned off the scene.
A confusing exchange also unfolded over an apparent reference to “dead bodies”, with state advocate Elize le Roux saying it was definitely not the state’s case that bodies had been lying at the scene, and Gissing saying such a version had never been disclosed to the defence, adding he would return to the issue.
When proceedings resumed after lunch, Le Roux had made it clear the state was not done with the video footage that Moosa earlier blocked from being played until its authenticity is proven.
“I just want to make it clear, I’m not abandoning the video,” she said, before closing her questioning of Cele at this stage and handing over to Gissing.
The footage, from the scene of the shooting, was blocked earlier in the day when Moosa sustained an objection from all five defence teams, ruling it could not be played until its authenticity was proven, including that it had not been doctored or subjected to artificial intelligence.
Moosa said the state would have an opportunity to recall the witness depending on the outcome of the video issue, with the defence to be given a further chance to cross-examine on the footage if required.
Earlier on Tuesday, Cele was overcome with emotion as he relived the ambush, telling the court a white BMW had parked near a red Ferrari and a white Golf 7 before two men climbed out, drew AK-47s and opened fire, the first bullet narrowly missing him.
He testified that he fired back with his pistol, wounding one of the gunmen, and that one of the attackers shouted “die, you dog” as he fired at the occupants of the parked vehicle.
The shooting is one of three the state alleged the 49-year-old tenderpreneur Matlala ordered between August 2022 and January 2024, along with attacks targeting his ex-girlfriend, actress Tebogo Thobejane, and music producer Seunkie “DJ Vetteys” Mokubung.
Matlala is on trial alongside alleged gunmen Kekana and Tiego Floyd Mabusela, his wife and Nzama, with all five having pleaded not guilty on Monday to the 25 counts against them, including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, money laundering, fraud and the illegal possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition.
Each of the 11 attempted murder counts carries a minimum sentence of life imprisonment upon conviction.
The case continues on Wednesday.
