Durban — The Durban High Court on Tuesday learned that the two men who are accused of killing Dustin Pillay, a taxi boss, were his close friends.
Pillay was shot and killed in September 2019 and he was a manager of the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association based in Shakaskraal, north of Durban.
The State brought another witness whom we cannot name to protect his identity. The witness was a close friend of Pillay. Furthermore, the witness told the court that the accused Cebo Xulu and Thokozani Mthethwa were close friends of Pillay and they hung around quite a lot and even came to his place in Ballito.
The pair faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, eight counts of attempted murder, two counts of unlawful possession of firearms, with one being an automatic, unlawful possession of ammunition, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property, malicious injury to property and negligent driving
The witness said he knew the first accused Xulu very well and said they were all friends with Pillay.
“He would come to where we lived and even at the rank and we would have meat. I had his cell phone numbers and we used to call each other very much,” he said.
Moreover, he said the second accused Mthethwa was also a close friend of Pillay that he would even come for sleepovers.
He further told the court that Pillay assisted the pair with giving them an allowance of R2 500 every week as the chairman of the Association Richards David owed them money for a job they did for him and was not taking their calls. It was not clear what kind of a job was that but he owed them R150 000.
“Pillay did this to calm the situation and to make sure that they could live,” said the witness.
He added that Pillay assisted Mthethwa by contributing R7 000 for his wedding. However, he indicated that there were divisions after David’s security shot a taxi owner.
He said the taxi owner and Pillay reported the matter to the police but there was no justice. He said others sided with Pillay and others sided with David. He further indicated that taxi violence was rife during this time in Shakaskraal. Senior State prosecutor Elvis Gcweka asked the witness if he ever met with Xulu after there were divisions.
He responded by saying in early 2019 he spoke to Xulu over the phone and he told him that they were no longer brothers because he and Pillay were no longer being truthful.
“This is because we were no longer depositing the R2500. That was the last time we spoke,” explained the witness.
While the witness was narrating this to the court the accused men kept on looking at each other, shook their heads and sometimes would smile.
Judge ME Nkosi imposed strict rules in court so that witnesses can testify without fear for their lives. The only people allowed in the court are families, court staff and the legal representatives. The media is also not allowed to name the witnesses.
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