MBABANE – Sipho Shongwe wants to be acquitted of the murder of Victor Gamedze.
Yesterday, Shongwe’s representative, Advocate Laurence Hodes, after making his submissions, told Judge Nkosinathi Maseko that his client should be acquitted and discharged. The advocate said the Crown did not try Mbuso Ncaza Nkosi and Simphiwe Tata Ngubane, who testified as accomplice witnesses. Instead, according to the advocate, Shongwe was tried for the murder of Gamedze. The advocate submitted that the court was informed that Ngubane was misled from the beginning, in that he was allegedly told that their purpose of coming to Eswatini was to rob a businessman who always carried millions of Emalangeni in the boot of his motor vehicle.
He said Ngubane was said to have acted in common purpose with Nkosi, who was aware that their mission in Eswatini was to kill Gamedze. This, said Advocate Hodes, was stretching it beyond incongruity. Advocate Hodes said Nkosi and Ngubane were at liberty to lie and implicate Shongwe in the murder. He also pointed out that their evidence contradicted each other. As a result, the advocate submitted that Nkosi and Ngubane do not qualify for indemnity. Advocate Hodes further said the scene of the crime at Lundzi, where the getaway car, a silver grey Toyota Yaris, used by Nkosi, Ngubane and Sandile ‘Dzodzo’ Zikalala on the day of the murder of Gamedze, January 14, 2018 at Galp Filling Station in Ezulwini, was contaminated.
Admitted
During the trial, Shongwe wondered why Nkosi, who admitted to shooting Gamedze twice in the head, was not tried and was let go ‘when you have him in the bag’. The Crown representative, Advocate Michael Hellens said the person who hires a killer is the instigator of the murder and the Crown would go after him/her. Advocate Hellens stated that there was trouble between Shongwe and Gamedze. This, according to Advocate Hellens, linked with the evidence of Sipho ‘Tsetla’ Bhembe and Steven Horton.
Nkosi narrated to the court how he was allegedly contacted, through the now murdered Farouk Meyers, purportedly by Shongwe. The alleged meeting in Eldorado Park, according to Nkosi, the proposition put by Shongwe as to the murder of Gamedze, the threat made to Nkosi, purportedly by the accused, he was accompanied by Simphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane at Farouk’s place. Shongwe denied ever being in a meeting with Nkosi, Ngubane and Zikalala. Nkosi testified that he was called by Farouk on January 8, 2018 and he was not in prison at the time. He said he was informed that there were people who were waiting for him at his workshop in Eldorado Park pertaining to a job or an assignment.
“There he found two gentlemen. One called him by the name Ncaza in inquiring whether that was his name and that person identified himself as Shongwe and said the other one was Charlie. He corrected himself saying that Farouk gave the name Shongwe when he arrived and introduced him to Sipho. He only got to know the name of Charley after he was arrested and then heard his name was Dzodzo. “He identified the accused as this man Sipho Shongwe that he met at Eldorado Park. He looked around the court saying that he was not sure whether he had a look at the gallery and he was told to look anywhere. He looked around the court and identified the accused in the dock.” According to Shongwe, Nkosi and Ngubane conspired with the investigating officer to get him arrested. He disputed that the meeting alleged by Nkosi ever took place.
Intention
Advocate Hellens said Nkosi had never been to Eswatini before and he never had any intention of coming to the country. “He did not know the deceased, Victor Gamedze; He had no quarrel or difficulty with him; On January 14, 2018, he shot him without trying to rob him; He shot him because he was sent by Sipho. “There can be no question that it cannot be said that the witness, Ncaza came to Swaziland in order to kill an unknown person with no motive to rob or no other motive but to senselessly kill a stranger. His version must be true that he was engaged by Sipho Shongwe to commit the crime,” submitted the advocate.
Sipho Shongwe says his arrest was a result of a conspiracy against him. During his cross-examination last year, Shongwe said the conspiracy was driven by the investigator, Senior Superintendent Sikhumbuzo Fakudze. He alleged that he was arrested under instruction of Fakudze. He told the court that he could not remove Fakudze from the alleged conspiracy. According to Shongwe, the senior superintendent had a major interest in this matter as the investigator.
He said Fakudze also travelled to Johannesburg to talk to Ngubane and Nkosi. According to Shongwe, the investigator also spoke to Bhembe, now deceased, and Horton about the case. He described Bhembe and Horton as Gamedze’s boys. Advocate Hellens asked: “What do you mean? Are you accusing Fakudze of having an interest and making up things about you because of football?” Shongwe said he was stating his reasons why he believed his arrest was as a result of a conspiracy. When the advocate said the police knew who killed Gamedze, and added that they chose to falsely point an accusing finger at him and left Ncaz. Shongwe said that was exactly what happened.
Killed
“The person who killed Gamedze is at home. The person who was at home at Ngculwini when Gamedze was killed was arrested. “The killer was captured on video and he came to court and testified. He admitted to the murder. So you got your man but you let him go. The police are supposed to detect crime and bring an offender to court but they let the killer go and they are picking up bits and pieces about me. This is painful,” said Shongwe.
Shongwe wondered what it would benefit him to kill Gamedze. “I was not Gamedze’s enemy. I never hated him. I never fought him. That’s why he called me, we had tea together and I had nothing against him. I visited him in his offices and he visited me in Manzini.”
Advocate Hellens told the court that the evidence of Shongwe’s only witness, Sihle Nkambule, was a wild goose chase. The Crown led 49 witnesses. When giving evidence, Nkambule alleged that the record downloaded from the MTN Eswatini system was tampered with by one Mlandvo Mamba.
However, Advocate Hellens stated that it had been shown that no one at MTN Eswatini had changed anything on the record. “He (Nkambule) speculated that there was contamination. There was no such evidence,” said Advocate Hellens. Advocate Hellens appears in the matter alongside Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo. Advocate Hodes appears in the matter with Lawyer Lucky Howe. The matter continues today.