SHONGWE: I DON’T KNOW ‘NCAZA’, FAROUK

MBABANE – Sipho Shongwe says he does not know Mbuso ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi.

Shongwe yesterday denied meeting Nkosi anywhere. He also denied knowing the now deceased underworld kingpin, Farouk Meyers, who, Nkosi told the court, was the one who called him about people from Eswatini who wanted to give him a job. It turned out that the job, according to Nkosi, was the murder of businessman Victor Gamedze. Nkosi was being cross-examined yesterday by Shongwe’s representative, Advocate Laurence Hodes, during Shongwe’s trial. On Monday, Nkosi told the court that he received a call from Farouk, who informed him about people who were waiting for him at his workshop, known as And Then in Eldorado Park. He alleged he found Shongwe and Sandile ‘Dzodzo’ Zikalala/Luthango, who was introduced to him as Charlie.

Meeting

During that meeting on January 8, 2018, Nkosi submitted, Shongwe allegedly told him about a man who blocked his routes to smuggle drugs and had issues with on football-related matters, whom he wanted to be killed. Advocate Hodes told Nkosi yesterday that Shongwe did not know Farouk. Nkosi said that was not true as Shongwe knew him very well. The advocate also said Shongwe never met him (Nkosi) at Farouk’s workshop or anywhere and Nkosi said that was a lie. Advocate Hodes said on Monday, it was easy for Nkosi to point Shongwe out because he was familiar with the sitting arrangement in a courtroom and that an accused person sat separately from the others. “Today he pretends that he does not know me and Farouk. He was with Farouk in prison and I don’t understand why he denies knowing us,” said Nkosi.

According to Nkosi, two meetings were held at Farouk’s workshop, where Shongwe and ‘Dzodzo’ were present on January 8 and 9, 2018. Shongwe denied that those meetings took place. The advocate asked Nkosi what they were wearing and he said on January 8, 2018, Shongwe was dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and sandals while he and ‘Dzodzo’ were dressed in T-shirts and jeans.

Prove

The advocate said Nkosi had nothing, either videos or tickets, to prove that the meeting took place. Nkosi said Farouk told him that he deleted the CCTV footage of the meeting. The State witness, Nkosi, told the court that after being told about the job to kill Gamedze, he refused to do it and walked away, only to allegedly receive a phone call from Shongwe, who allegedly threatened to harm him and his family if he did not kill Gamedze. However, Shongwe yesterday denied ever calling Nkosi to threaten him. “All you are trying to do is implicate Mr Shongwe,” said the advocate. Advocate Hodes told Nkosi that he had been promised E80 000 for the murder of Gamedze and he was then concerned about the payment when he agreed to carry out the job. However, Nkosi said he was not concerned about the E80 000, but that his family might be harmed. Shongwe denied threatening the witness. The accused also said it was not true that he communicated with the trio of Nkosi, ‘Dzodzo’ and Siphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane when they were on their way to Eswatini.  

Nkosi alleged that Shongwe arranged for him to enter Eswatini at Ngwenya Border Gate with a stolen Toyota Yaris and without a passport, while Ngubane and ‘Dzodzo’  entered through an informal crossing point.  Shongwe further denied communicating with Nkosi, while he waited for ‘Dzodzo’  and Ngubane on the Eswatini side near a shopping centre at Ngwenya.
 The accused disputed that he met the trio after they had entered the country. Nkosi alleged that Shongwe was travelling in a new Mercedes-Benz with no registration numbers. He also told the court that Shongwe gave them two firearms wrapped in a towel, new SIM cards and money. Shongwe denied meeting them along the way to Mbabane and giving them the firearms or anything else.

Evidence-in-chief

During his evidence-in-chief, Nkosi submitted that ‘Dzodzo’  drove them to the residence of Gamedze. However, he said since it was already dark, he (‘Dzodzo’ ) was not able to spot the house and Shongwe allegedly got furious and shouted at him. This, according to Shongwe, never happened. He disputed that he gave ‘Dzodzo’ the go-ahead to show Nkosi a picture of Gamedze that was on his phone. Nkosi said the picture had been taken from a newspaper and the article was about the murder of former Miss Swaziland Tiffany Simelane allegedly by Gamedze and that people were unhappy with him. Shongwe said he was aware of a rumour about the death of Simelane, but he had never seen it reported in newspapers.  Nkosi alleged that Shongwe directed ‘Dzodzo’ to show him the picture of Gamedze. Shongwe denied that. The accused further disputed that he told Nkosi that he had engaged a traditional healer to remove Gamedze’s powers and it would be easy to kill him. Nkosi said that was a lie.   

Escape

The accused said it was not true that he arranged an escape route with the police and soldiers so that Nkosi and Ngubane could go back to South Africa after the murder of Gamedze. Shongwe also said he never called Nkosi, Ngubane and ‘Dzodzo’  on January 14, 2018 to tell them that Gamedze was at Somhlolo National Stadium. He also denied that he promised to pay Nkosi E80 000 for the hit on Gamedze. Nkosi said Farouk gave him E70 000 of the E80 000 around January 19, 2018. However, Advocate Hodes said that could not be true because Shongwe was arrested the previous day. Nkosi insisted that he received the money and gave Ngubane E35 000.

Advocate Hodes said Ngubane told the court that he only received E10 000 from Nkosi. Nkosi stated that Ngubane did not want to take the money and he left it on a table in his house and left. He also said Ngubane had been complaining about his girlfriend who had a habit of stealing his money. Meanwhile, one of Shongwe’s brothers was ordered to leave the courtroom after Judge Maseko noted that some of the people in the public gallery were making noise. However, Shongwe’s brother returned to the courtroom after some time.

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