WITNESS ‘TATA’ EXPECTED TO TESTIFY TODAY

MBABANE – Today, after almost four months of being in a secret place since his arrival in Eswatini, Siphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane will come face-to-face with Sipho Shongwe.

Ngubane, whose arrival was eagerly anticipated, is expected to be at the High Court today and the security will be heightened. Yesterday, some members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) reportedly arrived at the High Court in the afternoon to do a clean sweep in the courtroom where the matter will be heard. It has been reliably gathered that whether Ngubane takes to the witness stand today or not, will depend on the attitude of the defence.  This is so because there is a pending issue regarding having one of the witnesses testifying through the audio-video link (AVL). “It will depend on the attitude of the defence, but the plan is to have Ngubane take to the witness dock today,” said a source. When the matter was last in court, it was allocated dates from today until March 24, 2021.

Accused

Shongwe stands accused of having played a role in the murder of shrewd businessman and football administrator Victor Gamedze. Ngubane and his countryman Mbuso ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi, who are now accomplice witnesses, are accused of also having participated in the murder of the astute businessman. He (Ngubane) arrived in the country in December last year and has been staying in a place of safety where he is closely guarded by armed police officers. Part of Ngubane’s evidence, as contained in the summary of evidence, is that when he came in to the country with ‘Ncaza’, he was under the impression that they had come to rob a businessman who was always carrying millions of Emalangeni in his car.

In his statement, he purportedly also highlighted that had he known that the intention was to (allegedly) kill the businessman, he would not have participated in the commission of the offence as he was out on bail in his home country for another offence at the time. He was extradited into the Kingdom of Eswatini in December 2020 and he is being treated in accordance with the Witness Protection Act of 2018. Section 8 (1) of the Act provides that: “Any witness who has a reason to believe that the safety of that witness or the safety of any related person is or may be threatened by any person or group of persons, whether known to the witness or not may; report such belief to the investigating officer in the proceedings concerned; any person in charge of the police station, if in prison to the person in charge of the prison where the witness is detained.” Section 9 of the Act outlines the period a witness can be placed under protection.

The aforementioned section of the Act stipulates that: “The director or witness protection officer to whom a report has been made or has been informed of an application for the protection of a witness or related person, place the witness or related person under temporary protection for a period not exceeding 14 days.” Ngubane stands to be indemnified by the court in accordance with Section 231 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938. The DPP, last year, told the court that Ngubane and Nkosi were ready to give their much-awaited evidence. Shongwe accused the Crown of giving Ngubane and Nkosi an incentive to give false evidence to implicate him in the murder of Gamedze.

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