Mdluli trial: Cop's credibility in question

Former SAPS crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

Former SAPS crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

Published Mar 14, 2017

Share

Johannesburg – An officer who testified during the trial of former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and his co-accused Mthembeni Mthunzi had his credibility questioned by the defence on Monday, in the Johannesburg High Court, when his testimony clashed with one of the previous witnesses.

Captain Amos Maneta told the court that he was instructed by his senior to obtain statements from three witness in the Mdluli case.

The witnesses were Alice Manana who was Tshidi Buthelezi's friend. Buthelezi was Mdluli's customary wife.

Also included on the witness list were Sophia Ramogibe, Oupa Ramogibe's mother who was Buthelezi's lover, and another woman named Sarah Ramogale.

He said he was never briefed about the matter and did not know what were the statements in connection with, but he believed that his colleague who had accompanied him was informed.

"We went to Vosloorus to obtain statements. When we arrived, we found two African females and a male at the gate and we parked our cars," Maneta said.

"One of the females said we must remove our cars from the premises and obtain statements somewhere because we could be shot and killed."

He said they drove to Soweto to obtain the statements.

Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng asked Maneta if he had prior knowledge of the case or even knew the three witnesses. "No my lord," he said.

Mokgoatlheng gave Maneta a chance to peruse through all the statements and confirm if they were all written by him and if there is anything he thought might have been tampered with.

More focus was directed on Manana's statement which implicated Mdluli as being part of the men who attacked her in her house. "I still believe and confirm to this court this is what Alice Manana told me," he said.

Ike Motloung, for Mdluli, told the court that Manana's statement held a comprehensive story about how she was shot at her home and the people involved in the attempted murder.

Motloung read out Manana's statement which was taken in 2010. In it she accused Mdluli as being the man who was driving the getaway car when she was shot in 1999.

"I saw a lime green Volkswagen with Mdluli seated in the front sit, I could see him because the lights in my house were on and the streets lights were also on, but I couldn't see the man who shot me because he was wearing a balaclava and the gun was in a plastic," the statement read.

Motloung put it to Maneta that when Manana testified she denied mentioning Mdluli when making a statement and said probably Maneta is the one who wrote the name.

"She lied my lord because I didn't have any knowledge about this case, everything I wrote on the statement is what Alice herself told me."

Earlier, Maneta explained that he knew Mdluli and met him a couple of times while he was his commander. He said Mdluli congratulated him on the sterling job he was doing as an investigating officer.

He became emotional when he explained that after solving a high profile case, Mdluli called him to his office in Pretoria and promised him he would be promoted to a Colonel rank but it never happened. He said he was never given a reason as to why he was never promoted.

Mdluli previously testified that there was a conspiracy to overthrow him in his position. The judge asked Maneta if he knew about the conspiracy and was he part of it.

"I know nothing about the conspiracy. I didn't add or omit anything. I'm not part of the police men who are part of the people meant to I'm place General Mdluli in the crime."

Mdluli denied allegations that he and his co-accused assaulted Manana. He said he only went to Manana's house to find out about Buthelezi's whereabouts.

Mdluli and Mthunzi allegedly intimidated, kidnapped and assaulted Oupa Ramogibe. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The charges against the pair stem from the alleged extreme lengths that Mdluli went to between 1997 and 1999 to find out where Buthelezi and Ramogibe were hiding. The former intelligence head allegedly tried to find out from the family, which home affairs the couple went to tie the knot and where they were staying.

However, in November 2012, an inquest into the killing of Ramogibe cleared Mdluli of any involvement in the murder. Ramogibe allegedly received death threats after marrying Mdluli's ex-lover and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He opened an attempted murder case before his death.

Mdluli started dating Buthelezi in 1988 when she was 16 and he was 28-years-old and already a police officer. He later paid lobola for her.

The relationship fizzled out and Buthelezi later met Ramogibe. The pair secretly married in July, 1998. Ramogibe was shot in 1999. No one was ever convicted of his murder. Mdluli has been accused of sabotaging the investigation. Tshidi died in 2003 after an illness.

The case was postponed to Tuesday.

African News Agency

Related Topics: