A State witness told the Durban High Court that he was shocked when the friend of slain Siduduzo Magwaza requested that all Magwaza’s tender projects be handed over to him, two days after he was killed.

Siphamandla Makhanya and Mxolisi Percy Hadebe are accused of Magwaza’s assassination. Magwaza was shot in his flat in Cornubia in January 2021 and he later died at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

Hadebe and Magwaza were part of a Project Steering Committee that handled tender projects in Verulam, Ward 102. According to the State, Magwaza had tenders and Hadebe did not.

Leading evidence-in-chief Thembile Ntsazana, a committee member and witness, stated that Hadebe had asked him for assistance the day after Magwaza's murder in order to gain access to all of Magwaza’s tenders.

According to Ntsazana, he informed Hadebe, who accompanied Sakhile Zungu, that he would pay his respects to the Magwaza family and would not consider his plea for committee support. Magwaza was also good friends with Zungu.

Moreover, Zungu had also testified that before Magwaza was shot, Makhanya who had arrived in Cornubia in December, had said he came to the area to kill politicians.

The State alleges that Hadebe paid Makhanya to assassinate Magwaza so he could benefit from his tenders.

After Magwaza was shot, Zungu said Hadebe came to request him to not say anything about what Makhanya had told him about killing politicians.

Zungu told the court that he assured Hadebe that he was not going to say anything, but he had already reported this.

Another State witness, traditional healer Nhlanhla Ndlovu, said Hadebe came to him to ask for cleansing because his companion, Magwaza, was slain while with him.

He claimed that Makhanya had called Ndlovu, a traditional healer for Makhanya, to inform him that he would be arriving with a different person.

In cross-examination by State senior prosecutor, advocate Elvis Gcweka, Hadebe disputed having told Ndlovu that his friend was killed in his presence. He said he only told Ndlovu that he wanted protection so that he would not be attacked as his friend had been killed.

Hadebe had also said he was convinced by Makhanya to see Ndlovu. However, Makhanya had told the court that he was asked by Hadebe to take him to a sangoma because he was in danger since his friend had been killed.

The court rejected Hadebe’s version and said it was confusing.

“Ndlovu was a good, convincing witness. His evidence was not contradictory,” said Judge Sharmaine Balton while handing down her judgment.

Balton further questioned the timing of Makhanya being in Cornubia in December 2020, saying he went there to visit his sister, whom he had not seen for 16 years.

Balton will continue with her judgment at the end of March.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za