Duduzane appears in court in shackles
Former president Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane, appeared in ankle shackles in court on Monday on corruption charges before being released on bail.
The Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court ordered Duduzane, 34, who returned to South Africa last week to attend his brother’s funeral and was briefly detained at OR Tambo International airport, to pay R100,000 bail.
He was also ordered to surrender his two passports and report to the Rosebank police station twice a week.
The bail hearing took less than 15 minutes.
Duduzane, who appeared relaxed and joked with journalists in court despite being shackled, said about the leg irons: “I don’t mind. It’s procedure. It’s OK.”
In his affidavit, he stated that he had returned from his home in Dubai to face the charges with a “light and confident heart” and that he was keen to give evidence at a pending inquiry into the Gupta corruption scandal.
The state says Duduzane acted “in common purpose” with Ajay Gupta’s alleged attempt to bribe former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas in October 2015‚ as part of the Gupta family’s alleged efforts to capture and control the national Treasury.
Then president Zuma fired Jonas five months after he rejected the alleged bribe offer.
Prosecutors asked on Monday that the case against Duduzane be postponed to January so that other individuals implicated in the alleged corruption could also be charged.
However, Duduzane’s lawyers objected, arguing that the case was more than two years old and should be ready for trial.
Advocate Dawie Joubert‚ for Duduzane‚ argued that the state’s case against Duduzane was extremely weak and that he denied Jonas’s allegations.
Magistrate Jeremy Jansen van Vuuren agreed to the state’s request and postponed the case to January 24.
The prosecution has hinted that Duduzane may also face
charges in connection with investigations linked to his companies.
As the state and defence made their bail arguments‚ members of the Black First Land First movement attempted to enter the court but were barred from doing so.
Duduzane worked for the Gupta family, which is accused of corrupt dealings with the Zuma government, including being granted lucrative government contracts and influencing ministerial appointments.
The Guptas have denied that there was anything untoward in their relationship with Zuma, but their ties will be investigated as part of a state capture inquiry due to start later this year.
The Guptas’ whereabouts are not publicly known, and an attempt to contact a legal representative for them was unsuccessful.
“He [Duduzane] is charged with corruption for offering undue gratification to a public officer,” National Prosecution Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said later.
“The state did not oppose bail because he has been cooperating.”
Jonas has said in a sworn statement that the Guptas offered him the post of finance minister in return for obeying the family's instructions – for which he would allegedly be paid R600m.
Duduzane, meanwhile, is due back in court on Thursday – at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court – on culpable homicide charges over a deadly car crash in 2014, when his Porsche hit a minibus in Johannesburg, killing a woman. –