Duduzane Zuma UKZN

Duduzane Zuma, the son of former president Jacob Zuma during his appearance at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court, where he is facing charges of fraud and corruption on January 24, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Corruption charges against Duduzane Zuma were withdrwan to allow a key witness to finish giving testimony at the Zondo inquiry into state capture – Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla

Duduzane Zuma: Why the state has dropped a culpable homicide charge against him

The scales of justice have tipped in favour of Duduzane Zuma once again. One of his two culpable homicide charges was dropped on Tuesday.

Duduzane Zuma UKZN

Duduzane Zuma, the son of former president Jacob Zuma during his appearance at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court, where he is facing charges of fraud and corruption on January 24, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Corruption charges against Duduzane Zuma were withdrwan to allow a key witness to finish giving testimony at the Zondo inquiry into state capture – Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla

There was a dramatic start to proceedings at the Randburg Magistrates Court on Tuesday, after the judge announced the state would be dropping one of the two culpable homicide charges filed against Duduzane Zuma.

The son of former President Jacob Zuma is on trial following a car crash in 2014, which resulted in the death of two people. Phumzile Dube and Nanke Mashaba both lost their lives as a consequence. However, it has been ruled that Zuma Jnr can’t be charged for Mashaba’s death.

Why was a culpable homicide charge against Duduzane Zuma dropped?

Of the two victims, only Dube died as a direct result of the crash caused by Zuma. Mashaba spent some time in hospital after the ordeal, before passing away just a few weeks later. It was believed that she had failed to recover from her injuries in the smash, but a different version of events has turned the state’s head.

Between the time of the incident and Mashaba’s eventual death, eNCA report that authorities believe a pre-existing condition killed her, rather than the aftermath of Duduzane’s dangerous driving.

Recap – the trial so far:

Duduzane Zuma careered his Porsche into the back of a taxi in Sandton five years ago. He was ruled to have caused two deaths by dangerous driving, despite his defence that the high-performance vehicle failed to stop properly because it had hit a puddle.

The NPA was tasked with bringing the president’s son to book, but they didn’t follow through. The case was dropped in 2015 – thanks largely in part to some unscrupulous work by the defence team – before AfriForum came back for Duduzane through means of a private prosecution.

The younger Zuma has already escaped corruption charges in 2019, and it seems like he’s got himself another reprieve. It must be clarified that the culpable homicide charge for the death of Phumzile Dube remains in place, and as of 10:00 on Tuesday, he is still on trial for this particular fatality.