VUYO MKIZE
JUST minutes before her husband was gunned down outside their Soweto home, a call was made from Palesa Khashane’s phone to one of the men accused of his murder.
This emerged in the Johannesburg High Court yesterday during testimony by investigating officer Inspector Thomas Maluleke.
Veteran journalist and Bona editor Force Khashane was murdered in August 2009 outside his home in Orlando East.
He was found lying in a pool of blood by his brother Solomon and the latter’s son, Tshepo.
Maluleke was assigned to the case and during his investigations Khashane’s widow told him that when she returned home from Lesedi Private Clinic on the night of the slaying, she noticed her Nokia 6500 cellphone was missing.
“She gave me her cellphone number and I took it to a lady at Vodacom, who assisted me with the itemised billing.
“From the documents I saw that at 22.55, Palesa had been in contact with accused number four’s (Sibusiso Mtshali) number. That was before the deceased was shot,” Maluleke told the court.
“The documents also showed that the person who called and the person who received the call were both in the Orlando East area.”
Maluleke said he had spoken to Palesa before the four men accused of murdering Khashane were arrested.
It was only four days after the August 21 murder that officers from the West Rand Dog Unit arrested Sikhumbuzo Mtshali and two other men at a hostel in Vosloorus after a tip-off.
The two men were later discharged as there was no evidence linking them to the murder.
The car Khashane had bought his wife two weeks prior to his murder was found parked outside Mtshali’s hostel room.
Maluleke said that Mtshali gave him information about the whereabouts of two accused – Mchiliseni Khanyile and Vusi Khumalo. They were arrested for the murder after being granted bail on another matter at the Germiston Regional Court on August 27, 2009.
Sibusiso Mtshali handed himself over at Orlando police station on September 17.
Khanyile and Khumalo had declined to make statements, but Sibusiso agreed to make a statement after his arrest.
“I asked accused four (Sibusiso) if he had a cellphone and he said he had an old Nokia cellphone. He gave me his number and also said Palesa was the person who told him about me,” Maluleke said.
During cross-examination, Maluleke told the court Palesa hadn’t been considered as a suspect and had never been arrested.
Palesa is listed as a State witness.
The trial continues.