A fourth protected witness in the Glebelands Eight case, a one-time shebeen owner and seemingly former confidante of the men standing trial, has testified about one of the accused — a relative — being complicit in murder and attempted murder at Umlazi’s Glebelands Hostel.

The man’s testimony at the Pietermaritzburg High Court over the past two days also provided a glimpse into the deeply disturbing environment at the complex, where people were assaulted for questioning henchmen, and where it was thought forgiveness could be bought by supplying cattle to family members of those murdered.

The accused who is the man’s relative may not be identified in order to protect the witness.

The witness, who was allegedly shot in the arm by accused seven, Mondli Talente Mthethwa in 2016, alleges he was told by police to leave the hostel because he had “disturbed the hitmen”.

He packed up the same night, abandoning a jukebox, snooker table and fridges used in his shebeen and fled with his clothes.

The witness also testified to the murder of one of his young cousins and how he scolded another cousin, a known hitman, for the killings at the hostel.

At the start of proceedings on Tuesday 17 September, accused one, former Durban Central plainclothes detective Bhekukwazi Mdweshu, submitted a formal admission stating that blood found on a Sunfoil oil bottle at the scene of a shooting in 2014 was his.

Daily Maverick reported last week that Mdweshu’s advocate, Martin Krog, conceded to the blood belonging to his client, but denied the State’s assertion that Mdweshu was wounded during the 2014 attack.

He has not yet explained how his client was injured.

Speaking confidently, this week’s witness told the court he ran a liquor outlet from his room at Block 51 of the hostel, which together with some of the other blocks in this numerical range were known as the “older blocks”.

Mdweshu kept a room at Block 52 and allegedly led what was known as the Hlophe gang, along with since-murdered Bonga Hlophe.

From his testimony, it appears the witness was once affiliated to the Hlophe gang.

From time to time, according to the state’s indictment, Mdweshu, his co-accused and others from the older blocks would clash with some of the residents from Block R, who formed the Mthembu gang under the leadership of since-murdered strongman William Mthembu.

The 36-year-old witness was testifying in camera for security reasons and cannot be named by order of the court.

He said Mdweshu knew he did not “see eye-to-eye” with William Mthembu, because Mthembu also used to hawk goods and would send messengers to instruct the witness to stop selling liquor at a certain time each night. The witness’s customers were then chased away.

One such incident led to the witness hitting one of Mthembu’s messengers — an alleged hitman — over the head with a brick, and subsequently being stabbed by the messenger.

It was probably for this reason, said the witness, that he was told about plans — then in their infancy — to attack Block R and Mthembu.

The attack encompasses counts four to seven of the State’s indictment, and led to charges of attempted murder being levelled against Mdweshu and five of his co-accused: Khayelihle Mbuthuma, Vukani Mcobothi, Eugene Wonderboy Hlophe (brother of Bonga Hlophe), Ncomekile Ntshangase (Mdweshu’s cousin) and Mbuyiselwa Mkhize.

The men allegedly attacked Bongani Mthembu, William Mthembu, Mandlakayise Dyanthi and Lucas Mbekelwa at a garage near Block R on the night of August 19 2014, using weapons that included an R5 rifle, allegedly illegally procured by Mdweshu from a police colleague.

The men survived the attack, but William Mthembu was gunned down outside a supermarket with a friend the next year.

State prosecutor, Dorian Paver asked the witness what he knew about the Block R attack.

“Before the attack, three of my fellow brothers [named as such because they stayed at the same hostel] came to my room… They were Bonga Hlophe, Vukani Mcobothi [accused three] and accused one, Mdweshu,” said the witness.

“Bonga Hlophe, Vukani Mcobothi and Mdweshu told me they were thinking of going to attack Block R. I asked them how, because we didn’t have weapons and weren’t ready for an attack, so I asked how it would be done.

“They told me Mdweshu was going to organise firearms. I asked if the weapons would be legal, because some of the people in Block R had guns, and theirs were legal because they were not concealed.”

The witness said he was told the weapons would not be legal and would only be used for “the attack”. The man said he could not recall who made the remark.

Even though he was so close to the violence at the hostel, the witness claimed to have genuine concerns about innocent people being harmed during the Block R attack.

“I said not everyone at Block R [was a problem], and others might be injured. I asked what if one of ours is injured during the attack. If one of ours is injured, he must be finished off…

“I also asked who was the person they wanted at Block R, because other people living there have nothing to do with this, and others living there are my relatives. I asked why not just go straight to the person who was wanted,” said the witness.

It was Mdweshu who said the “wanted person” was William Mthembu, the witness testified, because “he was the cause of the commotion [at the hostel] and was involved in the selling of beds, and when money was collected, he takes the money,” said the witness.

“I then asked how and where we can find [William] so innocent people won’t be injured. Accused one said they meet at a garage [at Block R] and that’s where he will be shot.”

“Why did they come to your room to discuss this with you?” asked Paver.

“Accused one knew me and William Mthembu didn’t see eye-to-eye at some stage. And I was a hawker, and so was Mthembu. I sold liquor. There was tension between us because of our businesses. I think that is why [Mdweshu] mentioned it to me.

“By mentioning Mthembu’s name he must have thought I would react positively. I inquired if there was any other way Mthembu could be found because it is clear he is the cause of all this. In the end, it came up that Mdweshu knows William’s room. I noticed Mdweshu knows them [some Block R men] well because he was living with them and we got to know them when this fighting started.

“We said that because William’s home was known, why not just attack the home so that other innocents would not be injured? Mdweshu said gas should be thrown into Mthembu’s house and the gas should be shot so it could explode.”

The witness was unable to elaborate on how the “gas” would be packaged.

He said when that meeting ended “there weren’t even firearms”.

“So you are saying there was no real direction?” asked Judge Nkosinathi Chili.

“That is so,” answered the witness.

The witness did not take part in the Block R attack but was in his room at Block 51 when it happened, he told the court.

“I was watching television when I heard shots ringing out. The shots were coming from Block R direction. After about 20 or 30 minutes, Bonga Hlophe and Wonder Hlophe (accused four) arrived. Wonder Hlophe lived in my block and is the brother of Bonga Hlophe.”

The man said he had “customers” in his room drinking beer. He led the customers out of the room so he could hear what the Hlophe brothers had to say.

“They asked me if I heard the sounds of gunfire going off. I confirmed and asked what was happening. They explained they went to block R and started shooting. I asked how many were there and they said it was them and the others.”

The others, according to the witness, were Mdweshu, accused six Mbuyiselwa Mkhize, accused three Vukani Mcobothi, accused five — Mdweshu’s cousin Ncomekile Ntshangase — and accused two, Khayelihle Mbuthuma.

Mdweshu was sitting on the ground, according to the witness.

“[The Hlophe brothers] explained to me Mdweshu was sitting because he had been shot; they asked me to take him to hospital. I said that because I wasn’t present [when the attack was planned] I didn’t want any part of it, because I explained to them previously that if anyone was injured that person must be finished off, because if the police got hold of that person, he would have to take the bullet for everyone.

“Then [the Hlophe brothers] went back to the group. I didn’t have a car to take Mdweshu to hospital, I would have had to use his car, a white Toyota Corolla RSi.

“I was still standing there amazed and saw the RSi being started. It was driven by Bonga Hlophe. The person in the passenger seat was Mdweshu.”

“Did you see accused one the following day?” asked Paver.

“No, it was a whole month without him being seen in the hostel.”

The witness also testified to count eight of the indictment, the murder of Siniko Deric Ncayiyana, who was shot in the head on 27 March 2015, at Glebelands.

Ncayiyana was the witness’s cousin, as was the alleged triggerman, Mxoleleni Bhani. According to the witness, Bhani — originally from Harding — initially came to Glebelands “to complete his studies”. The witness is also originally from Harding.

(Bhani is a known hitman and has already been convicted and sentenced for the killing of Glebelands resident Sipho Ndovela, who was assassinated outside the Umlazi Magistrate’s Court in 2015. Mdweshu, Mcobothi and Wonder Hlophe are also facing murder charges for Ndovela’s assassination.)

The witness said he joined a group of people who were standing around at the scene of the shooting, with police officials, staring at the corpse of his cousin Ncayiyana.

“If you don’t go to see who has been killed, it is assumed you are on the other side… meaning you are close to Block R,” he later explained.

Following the burial of Ncayiyana, said the witness, he was approached by Bhani, who confessed to killing his cousin because Ncayiyana had killed Bhani’s brother. This angered him, said the witness, as that killing had been “resolved” and “peace made between the families” — cattle had been exchanged.

“I said that by him killing [Ncayiyana], they were trying to confuse me so I thought he was killed by Block R,” said the witness.

He said he told Bhani he should “stay away from this business of killing people”.

“I even tried talking to the elderly brothers from my hometown to tell [Bhani] to stop. They approached him; he seemingly didn’t listen because he was later arrested for the same thing — killing”.

Paver moved on to count 12 of the indictment, the murder of Nkosinathi Sunnyboy Ndovela. He was shot in the head just three months after Ncayiyana was killed.

It is this murder — for which his cousin, one of the Glebelands Eight, and Mcobothi have been charged — that seems to have pushed the witness over the edge. The murder involved other suspects, including the since-murdered Bonga Hlophe.

His cousin, with known hitman Sthembiso “One” Mbanjwa, confessed to the killing on the same day it happened, said the witness.

“I asked my cousin why he was telling me and he didn’t respond. He just walked away,” said the witness.

“The next day I went to [my cousin’s room] and took him to Bonga Hlophe’s room. I scolded them about the killings in Glebelands and said they were linked to the killing the previous day because I had seen them following [Sunnyboy].

“I was speaking out of anger, because these incidents were happening after each other. I didn’t know how I could put a stop to this and the death of people — I was just angry.

“The worst part is the people who were killing each other were close to one another. I put it clearly to Bonga Hlophe it was him messing around with the children [the younger accused, allegedly being trained to be hitmen] and when people die, I see Bonga with these children, then people die.”

Paver said the man could be asked why he didn’t report the murders to the police.

“At that time it was difficult to have trust in the police, because if a person showed they know something and brought it up, that evidence was destroyed, or the person who was a witness is killed,” replied the man.

The trial continues on Wednesday, with Krog set to cross-examine the witness. DM