The fact that he appears in court at allow charges of culpable homicide is purely because AfriForum and Adv. Gerrie Nel threatened to privately prosecute him after the National Prosecuting Authority initially did not press charges against Duduzane Zuma, son of former president Jacob Zuma,
But now state and defence team delivered their closing arguments in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in the prosecution case for culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.
The defence maintained that Zuma’s vehicle skidded on the road after it hit a puddle of water and that Zuma’s actions under the circumstances – given the rainy weather, the water on the road and the tendency of his vehicle to skid – was still that of a reasonable person.
In reaction, the defence objected to the state’s argument that the vehicle’s tyres were of inferior standard and said that no testimony was heard in this regard. The defence also argued that there was an indication from the start that there was pressure to prosecute Zuma.
The state emphasised the witness testimony of passengers and the taxi driver: That Zuma drove past them after which they heard a crash. The state said the way in which Zuma drove was not that of an average driver and that he must have been able to foresee that the incident would take place.
The judgment will be delivered on 12 July 2019.
“We are pleased that Zuma appeared in court due to the death of Phumzile Dube and we trust that justice will now take its course so that the Dube family can finally receive justice,” says Elias Maangwale, Investigator at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
* The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) initially decided not to prosecute Zuma in connection with a vehicle accident on 1 February 2014 on the M1 highway in Gauteng – in which Dube, a young female passenger, died on impact. AfriForum and Adv. Gerrie Nel’s ability to privately prosecute, as well as the Dube family’s insistence that justice must prevail, however led to the NPA indeed prosecuting Zuma.
