The Pretoria High Court has heard that a neighbour of Kelly Khumalo’s mother heard a commotion when then Bafana Bafana captain and shot-stopper Senzo Meyiwa was gunned down.

The evidence emerged when the trial of the five men who are charged with Meyiwa’s murder. The soccer star died 10 years ago in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.

On Thursday, the lead investigator in the case Brigadier Bongani Gininda took the stand for the cross-examination, led by the defence counsel for accused number two, advocate Sipho Ramosepele.

Ramosepele had to start the cross-examination as his colleague, advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, is not well. The latter is defence counsel for accused number one in the matter.

He focused on the day of the incident and questioned the investigator on what happened after the crime.

This follows a heated cross-examination on Wednesday. During the cross-examination, the court heard of the messages between the Khumalo sisters.

Ramosepele asked whether the the Khumalos’ neighbours witnessed the commotion after the gun went off, killing Meyiwa.

“Are there statements by the neighbours [the Ngcatshes and the late Mr Makeleni] that say they saw people running out of MaKhumalo house?” Ramosepele asked.

“The one of Makeleni,” said Gininda.

“He said he saw three black males running from the Khumalo house. And he said one was armed with gun,” he added.

Statements by neighbours

“You said accused two said when he ran out the house one of the other accused ran in.

“But Zandi Khumalo said after the phone of Kelly was taken by the intruder with a firearm [one with dreadlocks], she was in the bathroom and she peeped through the window. He left and she came out of bathroom.

“That is when she saw Senzo running from the kitchen to the dining room with MaKhumalo and Kelly. Nobody else came in,” said Ramosepele, pointing out the discrepancy.

However, Gininda said he was not in court when Zandi testified.

“Yes. The difficulty is that I was not in court. All I can say is in the confession of accused two that he ran out and accused four went in. That’s what he said,” Gininda replied.

The defence counsel further argued that the accused were not outside when the incident happened.

“The witnesses in the house said Longwe stood up and confronted one of the accused (the short one) with a gun. And he ran out of the house. What I want to know is, is there a statement that says when Longwe went outside he saw the other perpetrators who were on the lookout?” Ramosepele asked.

No there isn’t, Gininda responded.