Durban — A key State witness in the murder of three people set alight while still alive has told the Durban High Court he fled the scene after witnessing the killings and fearing he would suffer the same fate as his friends.
“Seeing my friends being burnt in the car is the reason I left the area. Seeing the same people go and loot my house made me think I’d also be part of the people who would be burnt. That’s why I left. I was really worried seeing my friends being burnt alive …
“Being burnt by people that we lived within the same area,” the witness testified on the stand on Monday.
The witness, who will not be named for safety reasons, gave evidence in the trial against six accused believed to be members of Abahlali baseMjondolo.
Mmiseli (Jomo) Khondlo, 41, Vusumuzi Mazula, 46, Thandekile Penelope Sithuntsa, 37, Siphenathi Zoko, 28, Mfanafuthi Muzi Masikhana, 37, and Scelo Thusi, 39 are charged with the murder of Phumlani Tshekele, Numkile Mfenqe, and Refilwe Mokoena.
The victims and the accused all lived in separate shacks at the Enkanini informal settlement in Cato Manor.
For reasons unknown to the State, animosity developed between them. It is alleged the accused and some members of the community tried to force the victims out of Enkanini, but they refused to leave.
The State claims that on the afternoon of January 25, 2022, a meeting was held by residents of Enkanini at which the accused and several community members expressed their anger at the victims. Several people were armed with sticks, bush knives, and makeshift weapons.
It is alleged that all three victims were forcibly removed from their dwellings and assaulted by the accused and other persons unknown to the State.
The hands of the victims were bound and they were forced into a VW Golf belonging to Tshekele. It is alleged the car was pushed to the corner of Blinkbonnie and Wiggins roads and set alight by the accused and their companions, with the three still alive inside. Each of their dwellings was also then set alight.
The witness in his evidence in chief incriminated all the accused, except Thusi.
On Monday during cross-examination, the witness told the court he had been left traumatised by what he had seen.
He claimed he did not know why the community had been angry on the day of the incident, even after the defence had put it to him that the community were angry over people who had been terrorising them, taking people’s houses and selling these to other people.
“Are you saying you had not heard that rumour?” the defence asked.
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