Lawyer denies Duduzane evading state capture charges

FORMER president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane was ready to appear in court on charges of culpable homicide and bribery allegations related to state capture, and has not been evading the law, his lawyer Rudi Krause told Independent Media last night.

This morning Duduzane is set to appear before the Commercial Crimes Court in Johannesburg in connection with his alleged involvement in attempts by the Guptas to bribe former finance minister Mcebisi Jonas in 2016.

On Thursday Duduzane is scheduled to appear in Randburg Magistrate’s Court on a separate culpable homicide charge.

Krause said his client was ready for both appearances.

“We’re going to apply for bail. They claim to have a warrant for his arrest, which they want to execute. They are going to execute the warrant and we going to appear before court,” he said.

Krause said Zuma junior had not been fleeing authorities.

“There was a summons issued for him to appear in court on Thursday on a charge of culpable homicide resulting from a motor vehicle accident. The correspondence with the prosecuting authority in that regard has always been that after they issued a summons he is going to appear,” he said.

“There was just no way he was not going to appear. It is wrong to suggest that he was avoiding or evading anything,” he added.

According to Jonas, the older Gupta brother – Ajay – told him that they planned to make him the new finance minister in exchange for him working for the brothers.

Jonas also alleged that in the presence of Duduzane and businessman Fana Hlongwane, he was offered R600000 in cash and R600 million which would be deposited into his account later if he accepted the controversial offer, which he said infuriated him.

Yesterday, Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi said the elite crime-fighting unit would only be divulging details about the case today. “We will not speak on the matter until tomorrow. Wait for tomorrow,” he said yesterday.

Last week, Duduzane was briefly detained at OR Tambo international Airport on his arrival from Dubai, where he currently resides.

Duduzane was in the country to attend the funeral of his younger brother, Vusi, who was buried on Saturday after he recently died from lupus.