Zuma supports Duduzane in court
FORMER president Jacob Zuma made a surprise appearance in court yesterday to support his son Duduzane.
The former statesman sat in the gallery behind Duduzane, who appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
Duduzane faces two charges of culpable homicide and an alternative count of negligent driving.
Before the proceedings, Duduzane made small talk and joked with journalists. The father and son duo seemed to be in a jovial mood as they waited for the matter to proceed.
The case against Duduzane was postponed to allow the defence time to study case files.
State prosecutor Yusuf Baba told the court that case files were only provided to the defence last week Friday and they did not have enough time to review them.
Duduzane’s lawyers told magistrate Heidi Barnard that they would be ready to proceed on October 26.
At the end of the court case, both Zuma and Duduzane were escorted out of court by a heavy security detail.
Even outside, people continued to take pictures of the two, with the former president smiling and greeting his supporters.
Phumzile Dube was killed in February 2014 after Duduzane’s Porsche collided with the taxi in which she was travelling.
Her fellow passenger, Nanki Jeanette Mashaba‚ who was injured in the accident, died in hospital a few weeks later.
Black First Land First (BLF) members, staunch supporters of Zuma, were also in court yesterday to support Duduzane. They are adamant that AfriForum is using Duduzane’s case to “settle their score” with the former president.
Zanele Lwana, BLF’s deputy president, said: “We are here to support Duduzane Zuma and, as BFL, we know that he is not going to get a fair trial because he happens to be the son of the former president.”
She said the BFL was proposing an alternative method to resolve the matter, adding that AfriForum did not have the interests of the Dube family at heart.
“Because the enemies of the former president cannot get to him, they are going to use his son and this case to try and humiliate him.
“We want an external mediator to facilitate talks between the Dube and Zuma family. We are not saying in any way that Duduzane did not contravene the law.
“The problem is that AfriForum is at the forefront of the case and their conduct is to treat black people as criminals,” she added.
Kallie Kriel of AfriForum said one could not use the legal system to “get” to someone.
He said though claims made by the BLF members were “ludicrous”, they were not surprising.
“We cannot blame the judicial system for anything and if Zuma junior is innocent, the court process will prove so.
“It is unfortunate for the two families that lost relatives but justice cannot be put on hold just because the suspect is the son of Jacob Zuma,” Kriel said.