One of the men accused of killing North West businessman Wandile Bozwana yesterday implicated Mamelodi's feared taxi boss Vusi "Khekhe" Mathibela in the murder.
In a confession statement admitted as evidence in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Sipho Patrick Hudla detailed how he and his co-accused followed Bozwana before shooting him dead in October 2015.
Hudla earlier claimed they were assaulted during their arrests and tortured into confessing that they were behind Bozwana's murder. However, the court found after a trial within a trial that their confessions were obtained legally.
Hudla, in the confession statement yesterday, told the court Mathibela paid him and three others R60,000 after the businessman's murder and the attempted murder of his business partner Mpho Baloyi.
Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa, Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo and Mathibela are facing charges of murder and attempted murder.
Hudla said he was with his co-accused Khumalo at Alexandra's Armsta Taxi Rank in mid-October 2015.
"After talking on his phone, he told me that he received a call from his friend Vusi [Mathibela]. He further informed me that his friend Vusi wanted us to meet him at Sandton City," he said.
Hudla said he knew Mathibela through Khumalo and the former was a Pretoria taxi owner who often visited Khumalo in Alexandra.
Hudla said Khumalo called Mutapa and Senzo [no surname] and told them to meet in Sandton. "We went to Sandton City mall and met Vusi near a salon. Vusi pointed to us a black male [Bozwana] wearing a blue short sleeve T-shirt from a distance and said he has a problem with that man and we must kill him."
He said Bozwana then entered the salon before Mathibela told them to keep an eye on him and said they would discuss further details later and went to the toilet.
"When the man got out of the salon the guys followed him and Senzo was walking behind the man. I then received a call informing me they are at the parking lot and I must get [meet] them there."
Hudla said he found Mutapa and Senzo waiting for him in a silver BMW.
"Mutapa drove out of the parking lot and we drove past the man we were following. The man [entered] a yellow hatchback car. I don't know the make of the car. The car was driven by a female person."
He said they followed the vehicle to a McDonald's, where it stopped.
"There Senzo got out of our car and opened the boot. He came back into the car carrying a bag. Inside the bag there was a pistol and AK-47 rifle. Senzo removed the pistol and gave me the AK-47. The yellow car got out of McDonald's premises and we followed it," he said.
Hudla said the vehicle drove onto the N1 highway towards Pretoria and they followed it until it off-ramped on a road he was not familiar with.
"Immediately after the off-ramp there is a robot. The robot was red and the yellow car stopped at the robot. Myself and Senzo descended from the car carrying firearms... I went to the left hand side of the car and Senzo on the right side. I fired five shots to the man and Senzo fired through the driver side," he said.
Hudla said they fled and drove to Alexandra.
"On our way to Pretoria while following the yellow car, Vusi was busy following us and calling us on our cellphones telling us that we must carry out the job. He didn't tell us why the man must be killed, he just told us that he has a problem with the guy,"
Hudla said they met with Khumalo and Mathibela where the latter thanked them and gave them R60,000 of which he received R15,000.
He said Mathibela gave him a further R2,000 three days later.
The matter was rolled over to today for cross-examination.
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