The state witness who claims to have provided firearms including an R5 rifle, ammunition and arranged hitmen for the AmaMpondo traditional leader Nkosi Sinikiwe Ndamase to allegedly kill his younger brother Prince Thandisizwe Ndamase has lied and misled the police many times. This was the stance of defence advocate Lulama Halam, who punched holes in the witness’s testimony in the Mthatha high court on Tuesday, focusing on the R5 rifle and the witness’s original claim to police that it was no.
A state witness in the trial of an Eastern Cape senior traditional leader accused of orchestrating the murder of his younger brother told the Mthatha high court this week how he provided the royal with a firearm and organised hitmen. In his second day in the witness box, the man, whose identity has been withheld by the courts for his protection, told judge Fathima Dawood how he and AmaMpondo AseNyandeni’s Nkosi Sinikiwe Ndamase, 46, had acquired firearms and hitmen to eliminate Ndamase’s you.