A second police officer has told the High Court that an unmarked Toyota Fortuner was present at the scene where accused number one in the Matlala matter was arrested, contradicting the evidence of the captain who led the operation.
Sergeant Mayisela John Ledwaba, testifying in Sepedi through an interpreter, told the court on Friday that a Fortuner had been with the team at both addresses attended on 17 April 2024, the street where Musa Kekana was arrested and the property to which he was then taken.
Asked by the State whether there had been a Fortuner at all, Ledwaba said he had seen one, and that it was with them at both scenes. He said he could not recall who was driving it.
He had been leading the convoy and the vehicle was parked ahead of him at a distance.
His evidence corroborates that of Warrant Officer Johannes Phiri of the Diepsloot Tactical Response Team, who testified on Thursday that he personally drove an unmarked white Fortuner to the arrest scene and on to the second address, where he left it standing while he travelled elsewhere.
Both accounts are at odds with the evidence of Captain Sekgobela, who commanded the operation.
As put to Phiri in cross-examination, Sekgobela told the court that there had been no Fortuner and in particular no white Fortuner at the arrest scene. He also told the Court that Fortuners had not yet been issued to the team at that time.
Phiri agreed that the vehicles had not been issued to the unit, but maintained that he had driven one. Asked whether he agreed with his commander, he repeatedly declined to comment.
“He’s the one that gave that evidence, maybe you should call him back to clarify,” Phiri said.
Advocate Riaan Gissing, for Kekana, told the court he would argue that this amounted to a refusal to answer, and put it to Phiri that he and Captain Sekgobela had misled the court about the movements of the vehicles.
Those remain contentions for the court to determine.
The vehicle Phiri described was confirmed by registration against a vehicle movement report automatic vehicle location data recording where police vehicles travelled and when. The report was obtained by the defence. It was not led by the State.
Put to Phiri in cross-examination, the report was accepted by him as an accurate reflection of the movements it records.
Gissing put to him that it showed a vehicle arriving at the scene at 8:50am and leaving only at 3:55pm that afternoon. Phiri said he could comment only on the movements of the vehicle he had personally driven.
Ledwaba told the court he had never been shown the movement data, had never discussed it, and had not had access to it when he made his statement.
Kekana’s version, put to both officers, is that he was arrested, handcuffed and loaded into the back of a white Fortuner.
Both officers deny it. Phiri said Kekana was placed in a white Volkswagen Golf 7 driven by Ledwaba, with Captain Sekgobela and another member present.
Ledwaba confirmed that account from the driver’s seat, telling the court that he drove from the arrest scene to the second address with Sekgobela seated in the back beside the accused.
The dispute therefore runs on two levels: whether a Fortuner was present at all, on which two officers now differ from their commander and which vehicle carried the accused, on which the two officers agree with each other and differ from him.
Neither officer made a statement at the time. Phiri confirmed that his was dated 9 September 2026 the day before he testified and that he had access to the vehicle movement data before deposing it. He initially told the court he had not relied on it, before accepting that he had used it to refresh his memory.
Ledwaba’s statement is dated 24 July 2026. Asked why he had not deposed one at the time, he said he had not thought it necessary for a member in his position, as Captain Sekgobela had already made one. He said that he deposed his when he was asked to. He said he typed it himself and that photographs shown to him during consultation refreshed his memory on some points, though not all.
The trial-within-a-trial continues.
