A State witness in the trial of two cousins charged with the rape and murder of 19-year-old Sinoxolo Mafevuka stuck to his guns during cross-examination, saying he had seen the accused in the area where the teenager's body was found.
Khayelitsha resident Mandisi Zweni was the second witness to give evidence before the Western Cape High Court that he had seen Xolisa Mafilika walking near a container about 160m from the toilet in which Mafevuka’s body was found on the night of the incident.
While his neighbour Yongama Mdiya, whom he had been walking with, had only placed Xolisa in the vicinity, Zweni said he saw both Xolisa and his cousin Athabile Mafilkia.
He said he first saw them near the container and later close to the toilets. He had been using one of the toilets. He kept the door open and when he came out, the accused had disappeared, he testified.
This despite defence attorneys pointing out that his evidence differed from Mdiya’s.
Mdiya had told the court that on their way back from buying electricity from a local garage, he and Zweni had seen about six men walking near the container and among them was Xolisa. But Zweni yesterday told the court that he only saw the two accused walking next to the container.
When asked about what his neighbour had told the court, Zweni said: “I do not know what Yongama said. I won't dispute what he said.”
Advocate Shaid Bruiders, for Athabile, told Zweni that he was puzzled by his claims about the presence of his client in the precinct, adding that he was concerned about his memory, as the incident happened last year.
Bruiders put it to him that he couldn't have seen Athabile because he was with his girlfriend at his place at the time he claimed he saw the accused.
Earlier Xolisa's attorney, Mornay Calitz, had also put it to Zweni that he was mistaken, that he had seen the accused as he was too “far asleep”. “It is him who is saying that,” said Zweni.
Calitz asked Zweni if he had smoked dagga with his client. Zweni said he did not.