MEYIWA BREAKING: Court orders policeman to testify after disregard of subpoena by his boss

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Welcome to another edition of the Daily Fix. I am your usual host and presenter, Advocate Tulo Hoyane.

[00:00:07]It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the defense to call witnesses in this trial.

[00:00:14]>> [clears throat] >> Recall that some 10 or so witnesses, potential defense witnesses, have died in this matter.

[00:00:25]So, it is a real challenge for the defense to get these witnesses to come forward to testify.

[00:00:35]Now, let us look at what happened yesterday in the Pretoria High Court.

[00:00:40]Yesterday when Advocate Mkhize Bili was a I mean, rather, Advocate Mkhize Bili informed the court that he was about to call his next witness, but that he was facing very serious challenges getting that witness to court.

[00:00:59]That witness is a police officer, a serving police officer.

[00:01:07]The name was not disclosed, but we can add one and one for ourselves and speculate.

[00:01:17]But before I do so, let us look at what happened around this potential defense witness.

[00:01:27]Or let me give you this background.

[00:01:30]It is never easy for any serving police officer to come before a court of law and testify.

[00:01:44]Legally, nothing prevents them from doing so.

[00:01:48]They can come either willingly or if they are unwilling for one reason or another, they can be compelled to do so through a court subpoena.

[00:02:01]Now in this case Ramos Sipili issued a subpoena.

[00:02:10]A legal subpoena.

[00:02:12]Duly authorized by the registrar of the Pretoria High Court.

[00:02:20]That this witness was required in court to come and testify on behalf of Bongani Ndlovu.

[00:02:30]By the defense.

[00:02:34]This witness had the intention of honoring that subpoena.

[00:02:41]But for some reason uh his bosses, his or her bosses, we don't know whether it's a man or a woman.

[00:02:51]Uh the policeman's bosses are not very comfortable with this.

[00:02:58]And will not release him or her.

[00:03:03]Because he is going to testify for the defense.

[00:03:10]What a travesty of justice.

[00:03:13]What a misunderstanding of the law.

[00:03:18]Or whether it's a misunderstanding, well I don't even want to say it's a misunderstanding. Let me rephrase that.

[00:03:25]You know, a a subpoena is issued, a court subpoena is issued for a police officer to appear in court.

[00:03:37]And his bosses resist.

[00:03:41]Or just simply ignore the subpoena.

[00:03:45]And the policeman then has to, you know, inform Ramos Sipili that, you know, I cannot come before court.

[00:03:51]Because my bosses, you know, are against my coming before court.

[00:03:56]And I can only do so provided there's a court order in place.

[00:04:03]Ordinarily, that shouldn't be the position.

[00:04:07]Why should a court intervene and issue an order?

[00:04:11]That subpoena That subpoena ought to be enough.

[00:04:15]The police or commanding officer of that policeman has an obligation, you know, to comply with the subpoena and not to, you know, disregard the subpoena such that, you know, the potential witness feels uncomfortable coming to court in the absence of a court order.

[00:04:40]You see, that is interfering in the administration of justice.

[00:04:45]If it is not, you know, an act of defeating the ends of justice, [clears throat] then I don't know what it is to defeat to to know I I don't know what it is to defeat the ends of justice.

[00:05:01]Because, you see, literally, when a witness come before court, that witness is not there to testify on either the the defense for for either the defense or the prosecution.

[00:05:12]That witness is called before the court to come and testify about what he or she knows so that justice can be achieved.

[00:05:24]That witness is there to assist the court to come to a just decision, an informed decision, you know, a a well-thought-out decision, a decision based on evidence.

[00:05:42]And anyone who has got evidence to give to the court, you know, has an obligation to do so.

[00:05:50]And preventing such a person from coming forward to come and testify actually is tantamount to defeating the ends of justice.

[00:06:02]So, when this matter came up yesterday, there was quite a lot of back and forth.

[00:06:10]The prosecution, predictably, stood out of and advocated by lawyer clearly indicated that they have nothing to do with the process of getting that witness to court or that they would not, you know, raise their little finger to assist the defense to do so.

[00:06:32]So, after that, Baloyi simply sat down and it was up to Ramosibidu and the other defense counsels now to address the court.

[00:06:44]After a few exchanges, >> [clears throat] >> Judge Ratha was prevailed upon by the defense, you know, to issue a court order that that police witness [clears throat] must come forward on Monday to testify.

[00:07:03]This is quite unprecedented because it did not have to take a court order from Judge Ratha for that witness to come and testify.

[00:07:16]The court ought to have also inquired into the circumstances, you know, which led to the, you the commanding officer of that particular policeman uh to find out why it is that his touring is disregarding court subpoenas.

[00:07:39]Well, that did not happen and could perhaps a topic for another day.

[00:07:46]So, we are now in a situation where the court has issued its own order.

[00:07:53]And the witness will be there.

[00:07:56]Now, the 64,000 you know, the dollar question is who is who is that witness going to be?

[00:08:07]>> [clears throat] >> Well, your guess is as good as mine.

[00:08:11]But, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

[00:08:14]I got I got this I got this hunch that it might well be it might well be Warrant Officer Mkhize.

[00:08:23]But, anyway, let us wait for Monday and see what happens.

[00:08:26]And having said that, let me thank you for this video and let me to thank you for watching for all the views, likes, shares, and subscriptions that I'm seeing.

[00:08:35]And have a wonderful wonderful day.

[00:08:37]Thank you.