Meyiwa accused will be moved from C-Max jail after 'solitary confinement' complaint

The Pretoria high court has ordered that Mthobisi Prince Mncube and Fisokuhle Ntuli be moved from the maximum security section of the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre to Johannesburg's Sun City and Leeuwkop prisons respectively.

According to the order, they are to stay there until the court makes a final decision on their request to declare the decision to detain them in the C-Max section for years inconsistent with the constitution, including any appeals that might be made.

“The applicants are to be transferred forthwith from the C-Max section to their centres of origin and remain in the centres pending the finalisation of the relief sought in part B of the applicants' notice of motion, including any appeals to that relief,” ordered judge Jan Swanepoel.

Mncube and Ntuli turned to the high court on an urgent basis.

Mncube said he had been incarcerated in the maximum security section of the prison since December 2020 and suffered an emotional breakdown last month. He said his continued incarceration in “solitary confinement” affected his right to a fair trial.

Ntuli said he was kept in solitary confinement at Leeuwkop prison in Johannesburg from about March 2022 and was transferred to C-Max in October 2023. The conditions amount to an infringement of his human dignity, he said.

A representative of the prison denied in an affidavit that the duo had been kept in isolation, saying: “C-Max consists of only single-cell units. the applicants are housed in single-cell units without loss of amenities.”

The duo are on trial with three other accused for the murder of footballer Senzo Meyiwa in Vosloorus in 2014.

Mncube has been fingered as the deadlocked intruder who entered the house where Meyiwa was fatally shot. According to ballistic expert Col Chris Mangena, a bullet found on the scene of the murder matched a gun belonging to Mncube.

Ntuli was linked to the getaway car.

The defence teams are expected to cross-examine the lead investigator Brig Bongani Gininda from Thursday.

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