Former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane Zuma made another appearance at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 26 March 2019, where the State withdrew one culpable homicide charge against him. Duduzane still faces a charge of culpable homicide and an alternative charge of negligent driving following a 2016 car cash which left one person dead and three others injured.

The deadly February 2014 crash continues to haunt Duduzane Zuma. His Porsche rammed into a minibus taxi on the M1 highway on 1 February 2014 causing the death of a woman and the injury of three passengers.

For three years, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) appeared to drag its feet in terms of prosecuting Zuma. However, things changed after 17 October 2017 when the head of AfriForum’s private prosecuting unit, advocate Gerrie Nel, announced that the group had instituted legal action to prosecute President Jacob Zuma’s son.

According to Zuma’s statement, he lost control of his Porsche after hitting a puddle. Zuma said the car swung and hit the back of the minibus taxi driven by Jabulani Vusi Dlamini. Zuma had then gone to the Sandton police station the following morning to file an accident report.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges of culpable homicide and the alternative charge of negligent driving in contravention of section 63(1).

Before the trial got underway, Zuma made several admissions.

These included that the deceased died near the scene of the accident, that he acknowledged that the deceased was Phumzile Dube, that he admits the correctness of the post mortem, that there were other injured persons in the accident and that he was the driver of the Porsche, registration number ZJP513GP. Zuma also confirmed that it was his signature on the Section 220 admission.

The prosecution’s first witness was weatherman Mthobisi Nxumalo. Nxumalo said he has worked for the South African Weather Service for six years, starting as an intern in 2012.

Nxumalo, who holds an honours degree in Atmospheric Sciences, was questioned about the methods used by the weather service to measure rainfall.

“We used data from automatic stations. Our rainfall systems have installed sensors called tipping buckets. The tipping bucket system consists of buckets placed opposite one another. When 0.2ml falls into the bucket it tips and allows the other one to be in line with the rain,” said Nxumalo.

He said their system sends data in five-minute intervals.

Nxumalo said on the day of the accident 4.8ml rain was collected for the first hour, and 14ml for the duration of 24 hours.

Jacque Cronje, a Porsche SA dealership manager testified that the car owned by Zuma was purchased at the dealership. “It was sold to Mabengela Investments which is mostly represented by Mr Zuma,” Cronje said.

He testified that the car was last serviced on 26 November 2015 when the car was brought in because of an overheating problem. All repairs at the time related to the overheating. Cronje said prior to that the vehicle was serviced on 27 September 2013 when the rear brake pads were cleaned and replaced.

Prosecutor Yusuf Baba asked Cronje about the choice and quality of Porsche vehicles and maintenance. Cronje said the vehicle was purchased with a five-year maintenance plan and that renewing tyres depends on the driving conditions. Cronje was also asked about the vehicle’s safety features to which defence lawyer, Michael Hellens, objected. Hellens said that to achieve a fair trial, the state ought to provide sufficient information on those matters to which it wished to depose.

“So I object to this evidence being led because it amounts to trial by ambush,” said Hellens.

In response, Baba said in terms of the law, the state was entitled to disclose any record which meticulously dealt with the matter at hand. “It’s not something that they were ambushed… There is no trial by ambush in this particular matter your worship,” said Baba.

In his statement, Zuma said he could not have known the full extent of the safety or other features in his car or how they could be of assistance in the event of an accident.

“How stable is a car like Zuma’s?” asked the prosecutor. “Very stable,” Cronje said.

“What happens when you lose control? Does the car have safety features to assist the driver in such situations?” asked the prosecutor. “It depends on the individual circumstances,” Cronje responded.

The state’s third witness on the day was Jabulani Vusi Dlamini, the driver of the minibis taxi which collided with Zuma’s car. Dlamini said it was drizzling on the day of the accident with the rain a little more intense towards the scene of the crash. Dlamini said even though it was raining, his vision was not compromised.

Members of Black First Land First (BLF), who have aligned themselves with Zuma, accompanied him to court. Ahead of the sitting, Zuma posed freely with members of the public wanting to be photographed with him.

The case continues tomorrow, 27 March 2019. DM