A witness to the shooting of an IFP supporter told the Durban Regional Court she feared the man accused of the murder.
|||Durban - A witness to the shooting of an IFP supporter told the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday she feared the man accused of the murder.
Joyce Mzolo, who was part of a group of Inkatha Freedom Party women who marched on the house of National Freedom Party councillor Mgezeni “Bhungu” Gwala last year, said: “Even as I stand here, my life is in danger. You don't know what it is like. I am afraid of Gwala.”
Gwala, his son Celimpilo Gwala, and his security guard Skhumbuzo Nxumalo are accused of shooting Cebisile Shezi dead on October 6
after IFP supporters converged on his house near the Thembalihle railway station, KwaMashu.
The group went to the house shortly after Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa addressed IFP supporters at a sports field in A-section, KwaMashu, that day. Shezi was wearing an IFP T-shirt at the time.
Mthethwa had been speaking to IFP supporters in an attempt to reduce tension in the area after the abduction of IFP councillor Themba Xulu. Xulu was out on bail after he was arrested for allegedly trying to burn down Bhungu Gwala's house. Xulu's body was found the next day. He had been shot.
Originally another son, Bonginhlanhla Gwala, and another security guard, Sibusiso Ncengwa, were also charged with the murder. The charges against them were withdrawn.
Mzolo said her group was waiting for another group of IFP supporters when two men suddenly appeared. She identified Celimpilo but said she could not be certain who the second man was, except that he was wearing a red shirt with a belt over it that held a gun.
“They were running. At that stage I heard the gunshots. I heard my sister saying 'I've been shot'.” The two women are not related.
She said she was in shock and did not know what to do. She ran towards the pedestrian bridge over the railway line. Before she got there a youth pulled her into a ditch. She said that after a lull in the shooting she stood up and heard more shots.
“They were ringing out in a terrifying manner,” she said.
Under cross-examination, she denied that the group's intention had been to converge on the Gwala house to demand that the Gwalas produce Xulu. At that stage his bullet-riddled body had not yet been found.
She denied that the group had been singing songs insulting Gwala, adding she did not see anyone in her group carrying stones, sticks, or guns.
The trial continues.
Sapa