The first man accused of shooting and killing Siduduzo Innocent Magwaza approached his best friend to assist him in doing the job.

However, the best friend refused because the money for the hit was not enough.

Magwaza, an ANC member and loyalist of former eThekwini Municipality mayor Zandile Gumede, was allegedly shot and killed in his flat in Cornubia on January 12, 2021, by Siphamandla Makhanya, 35, from the KwaQwabe area.

Makhanya was allegedly sent by Mxolisi Percy Hadebe, from Cato Manor.

According to the State, Hadebe wanted to benefit from tender projects in the area. At the time, Magwaza benefited and Hadebe did not.

Hadebe was a friend or acquaintance of Magwaza, and they were both members of a Project Steering Committee that handled tender projects in Verulam, Ward 102.

Judge Sharmaine Balton started her judgment on Monday at Scottburgh High Court, but it was moved to the Durban High Court on Friday.

Handing down her judgment, Balton said the court has doubts about Sakhile Zungu, a State witness and close friend of Magwaza.

She added that Zungu failed to disclose the kind of job that he did.

This is after Zungu told the court that when Makhanya came to Cornubia in December, he approached him and said he was a man that he could trust. Zungu said Makhanya had told him that he killed politicians.

He disclosed the amount of money for the assassination of the politician, however, Zungu said the money was too small, and it did not move his emotions. Hadebe offered to pay Makhanya R20 000.

When the court asked him if was a lot of money, what was he going to do; he replied: “Money is money, I don’t know how I was going to react.”

“Zungu was an unsatisfactory witness but he had no reason to lie about accused one (Makhanya),” added Balton.

The judge went into more detail about how Makhanya and Hadebe contradicted each other and their versions regarding their sudden friendship before Magwaza’s murder on January 12.

Balton said if the cellphone records were not brought in court, Makhanya would have stuck with his version that he arrived in Cornubia on December 27.

According to the cellphone records brought by the State, Makhanya arrived in Cornubia on December 29, 2020. From December 24-27, cellphone records do not place Makhanya in the Verulam area.

However, they suggest that he was in the Verulam area from December 29 until the day of the murder.

After the murder of Magwaza, the duo went to uMlazi for cleansing, and before the funeral of Magwaza, Hadebe went to other ANC members and his acquaintances to support him in getting tenders that belonged to the deceased.

Hadebe further made admissions to private individuals about his involvement in the killing of Magwaza.

He further went to beg Zungu to not say anything about what Makhanya told him about killing politicians. However, while leading his evidence Zungu said by that time, he had already reported this to authorities.

The judgment would continue next week.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za