The Pretoria High Court has ruled that accused number 3 in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial be removed from solitary confinement. The court said the accused, Mthobisi Mncube, should be moved back to his centre of origin or any other maximum security facility. The judgment comes after Mncube and one of his co-accused, Fisokuhle Ntuli, brought an urgent application with the Pretoria High Court seeking to be removed from solitary confinement at the C-Max section of Kgoshi Mampuru Prison. 

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT 

In his application, Mncube said he has been incarcerated in the maximum security C-Max section of Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre since 4 December 2020, where he is locked up alone in a 2m by 2.5m cell for more than 22 hours a day, without meaningful human contact. He is only allowed 10-minute telephone calls with his family two times a month and cold showers in a cage for no more than two minutes. Because of this, Mncube said in his affidavit that he suffered a mental breakdown on 7 October 2024. "I am being held in a single cell for more than 22 hours a day. This amounts to solitary confinement, as expounded hereunder. Being detained in prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement amounts to torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment. I am unable to concentrate and severely stressed. I have feelings of fear and hopelessness and at times I am unable to distinguish day from night," he said in his affidavit. He also said that because of being confined, he is unable to concentrate and also struggles with insomnia, tiredness, feelings of hopelessness, and irritation. "I never experienced these physical and psychological symptoms before my solitary confinement. I have now reached the point where the situation has become unbearable."

THE JUDGMENT

Delivering his judgment, Judge Jan Swanepoel confirmed that Mncube has been at the C-Max for almost four years and that the reason given by the respondent, the Department of Correctional Service, is because of his high-risk profile. "On the papers before me, there is no evidence that justifies that. any further solitary confinement of the applicant would be unlawful," Swanepoel said, adding that prisoners can only be kept in solitary confinement for twelve to eighteen months as a way to integrate them with other inmates. Ntuli's application was struck off the roll due to a lack of urgency. The state alleges Mncube is the dreadlocked intruder who shot the soccer player in October 2014. SAPS ballistic expert Colonel Chris Mangena, who examined both the murder scene and Senzo's body, testified at the trial in September that he was confident that the bullet found at the Meyiwa murder scene matched a gun that was recovered in Mncube's room in February 2015.

Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, and Ntuli are on trial charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of firearms without a licence and possession of ammunition. They have all pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.