WATCH | Senzo Meyiwa’s brother ready to face alleged killers in court

Sifiso Meyiwa, the brother of former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa, says he is looking forward to facing the people accused of the murder of his brother six years ago.

The goalkeeper was gunned down in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, in the presence of his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, her mother Ntombi, sister Zandi, Zandi’s boyfriend Longwe Twala, his friends Mthokozisi Twala and Tumelo Madlala, and their son, who was four years old at the time.

Meyiwa was in the Boksburg magistrate's court on Tuesday morning ahead of the appearance of five men accused of murdering his brother.

Meyiwa was accompanied by the AfriForum team, which has offered to assist the family in ensuring the apprehension of his brother's murderers.

Meyiwa said his family was relieved there have been arrests in connection with his brother's murder, but expressed concern about how his mother Ntombifuthi, who suffers from hypertension, will face the alleged killers when they appear in court.

“It’s painful, it hurts and she is not in a good space. Her blood pressure has been affected. She was just crying yesterday,” Sifiso said.

“We hear there is a mastermind behind his murder. We would want to know who that person is,” Meyiwa said.

“I don’t know how she would face the mastermind and we are still curious in finding out who this mastermind was,” he added.

Gerrie Nel, the head of AfriForum's private prosecution unit, said before the men's appearance on Tuesday morning that the arrest was the first step in the process to ensure those responsible for Meyiwa's family get justice.

Police minister Bheki Cele, speaking outside the Meyiwa family home in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday evening, said the motive behind the murder might be “bigger than we previously understood”.

Information the police obtained did not indicate that Meyiwa was killed in a botched robbery, said Cele. However, it was also not conclusive that the killing was a hit. Cele said he believed the picture will become clearer soon.

“The investigations are not really confirming that it was a robbery gone wrong, but are also not conclusive that it was a hit. The investigation must take us there, but we believe that the death of Senzo might have been bigger than we previously understood.

“The investigations will lead to what exactly happened. Some of the people either already arrested or still going to be arrested will tell us.”

— Additional reporting by Naledi Shange, Zimasa Matiwane and video by Tankiso Makhetha

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