Cape Town - Internationally renowned artist Zwelethu Mthethwa has been facing a murder charge for six months, but his defence team says the State is yet to provide it with evidence against him.
This was revealed in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court by Mthethwa’s lawyer William Booth, who learnt on Monday that his client’s trial would be moved to the Western Cape High Court.
Mthethwa, 52, is charged with the murder of 23-year-old Nokuphila Khumalo, a prostitute, in Woodstock on April 13.
It is alleged that he beat Khumalo to death in Ravenscraig Road and the incident was caught by CCTV cameras. Mthethwa was arrested on May 5 when he handed himself over to police. Khumalo was buried in Kimberley in June.
Booth told magistrate Alfreda Lewis that he had received a letter from the office of the provincial director of public prosecutions (DPP) notifying him that the trial would be heard in the high court.
“The State had earlier stated that it would charge him at the regional court. For some reason they have decided to charge him at the high court,” Booth said.
He was not pleased with the DPP’s decision and said he would query the decision with his office.
Booth also told Lewis that he was yet to be provided with the State’s evidence against Mthethwa which he had requested at previous appearances. “I’m asking that the court request the State to provide the evidence as stated in the docket.”
Booth said the evidence included statements by State witnesses, CCTV footage and documents in the docket.
Outside court, Booth told reporters that if the State did not provide the evidence soon, they would be forced to get a court order compelling it to provide the documents.
At his last appearance last month, Mthethwa had to be whisked away in a car after Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) activists and prostitutes chased after him and mobbed his vehicle. On Monday, he evaded them and photographers waiting outside the court.
This was after Lewis postponed his case to January 31, for the State and Booth to decide on a high court date. She also extended his R100 000 bail.
Nokuphila Khumalo’s mother, Eva Khumalo, was in court on Monday.
She had been frustrated by the delays. “She did not deserve to die like that. I want to know why she was killed. The person must pay for it.”
Mthethwa, a painter and photographer, has shown his work at several international exhibitions and was represented in New York by the Jack Shainman Gallery.
Cape Times