Pictured here is accused number one Musa Kekana
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH / IOL
Hospital staff feared someone was coming to help murder accused Musa Kekana escape from his ward after his arrest, so much so that they carried out body checks, restricted access to the floor and asked prison officials for extra guards.
The security measures were recorded in hospital notes placed before the Johannesburg High Court by the defence and revisited by Judge Cassim Moosa on Wednesday.
Dr Ziphelele Mazibuko, the state's seventh witness in the trial-within-a-trial against Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala and his four co-accused, treated Kekana at Edenvale Hospital on April 18 and 19 2024, shortly after his arrest.
Advocate Annelene van den Heever, for Matlala and his wife Tsakani, raised the security notes during her cross-examination.
According to the entry, Kekana could not be moved to Tembisa Hospital.
Staff had begun searching him, the floor above him was closed off, and the matron was to ask prison officials whether more staff could be deployed that night.
Moosa asked Mazibuko what was meant by “body checks”.
"I would understand it as they would search the patient to see if there's anything of concern," she said.
The judge read the rest of the entry and asked her to consider it as a whole.
"My comment is that it seems like the staff themselves were fearing for their security," Moosa said.
He asked whether staff had been worried about violence breaking out, and had beefed up security because of it. She agreed.
Moosa then asked whether the notes suggested staff feared Kekana might be forcibly removed from the hospital.
"How I understand this note is that the night matron had called the doctor, and they were concerned that the patient called someone during the day and requested them to possibly take him from the hospital," Mazibuko said.
Controversial businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, alongside his co-accused Musa Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela, Tsakani and Zandile Nthabiseng Nzama
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH / IOL
Kekana's counsel, advocate Riaan Gissing, objected.
"I'm of the respectful submission, with the greatest of respect, my lord, that what this honourable court is doing right now is inducing further and new evidence on record," Gissing said.
"I'm not so certain whether this constitutes your lordship entering the arena."
State advocate Elize le Roux said the documents had been submitted by the defence and were already before the court.
Moosa dismissed the complaint.
"It cannot be now argued selectively that the court must ignore certain parts of this particular document," he said.
"It is striking, however, that any and all documents that are placed before a court should and must be carefully considered by the court as the trier of fact."
Mazibuko also told the court she had recorded in her notes that Kekana said he had been suffocated, and took the court through the medication she prescribed him.
He spent about two nights at Edenvale Hospital.
Gissing said Kekana had told her a station commander from Bramley was pushing her to sign him out so he could be taken back to the cells.
Mazibuko said she could not recall that.
He also put it to her that Kekana left the ward with police officers on April 20 and was taken to the Bramley cells.
"I cannot recall that happening, nor can I confirm it, because if I can remember correctly, the 20th was a Saturday and I wasn't working," she said.
Her cross-examination has concluded.
Earlier on Wednesday, the state's sixth witness, Sergeant Thabiso Mohale of the Gauteng crime scene investigations unit, finished his evidence about the photographs he took on the day of the arrest.
Kekana, accused number one, wants everything police obtained after his arrest on April 17 2024 kept out of the trial.
Gissing has told the court officers assaulted, tied up and repeatedly suffocated him at a house in Kew that day, and that his rights were never explained to him.
The challenge is brought under section 35(5) of the constitution, which allows a court to exclude evidence obtained in a way that violates a right in the Bill of Rights, if admitting it would make the trial unfair.
Police witnesses have rejected the allegations.
Captain Phimi Sekgobela and Lieutenant-Colonel Tumelo Tsotetsi both told the court Kekana was informed of his rights in Sepedi and English, and that he was never assaulted in their presence.
Kekana was arrested hours after Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart was shot dead, and alongside former police officer Michael Pule Tau.
Matlala, a tenderpreneur, is in the dock with his wife, Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Nthabiseng Zandile Nzama.
The state alleged Matlala ordered three hit plots between August 2022 and January 2024, targeting taxi boss Joe "Ferrari" Sibanyoni, his former girlfriend, actress Tebogo Thobejane, and music producer Seunkie "DJ Vetteys" Mokubung.
Bystanders were caught in the gunfire each time, which is why the five face 11 counts of attempted murder among 25 charges.
All five have pleaded not guilty.
The trial-within-a-trial continues on Thursday with a new witness.
IOL
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