Duduzane’s defence lodges application to have charges dropped

Duduzane Zuma’s defence has lodged an application to have the charges of culpable homicide against him dropped due to insufficient evidence that he was driving recklessly.

Zuma crashed his Porsche 911 in February 2014, after which two passengers of the taxi, Phumzile Dube and Nanki Jeanette Mashaba, died and he was charged with two counts of culpable homicide.

His lawyer, Mike Hellens, told the court Duduzane was not driving recklessly when his car crashed, but a water puddle caused him to lose control of his Porsche.

Hellens said Zuma was driving cautiously because of the rain.

Meanwhile, the driver of the taxi Zuma’s car hit, Vusi Dlamini, said even though it was raining heavily, he could clearly see the road.

The state’s first witness, Mthombisi Khumalo, who is employed at the South African Weather Service, was unable to say how much rain fell or how heavily it rained on the night of the crash.

Dlamini said before the accident, he saw storm drains and there was a lot of water flowing into them. But added that the water was not flowing towards his direction in the second lane where he was driving.

He said where the accident occurred, there was water on the road.

Remembering the crash, Dlamini said he could not see Zuma’s car.

“I didn’t see the car spinning, all I could see were the lights,” said Dlamini.

He said his taxi was suddenly hit and he lost consciousness. After the crash, he said he was a bit confused and only realised the damage when he got out of the taxi.

“Three people were left injured and one died,” said Dlamini.

Dlamini said he saw the deceased hanging out of the window when he got out of his vehicle.

“She was hanging out of the window, but I don’t know what exactly could have happened,” said Dlamini.

Dube died after Zuma’s Porsche crashed into the minibus taxi on the M1 in Johannesburg. Mashaba died in hospital. The court withdrew one of the charges against Zuma after it was found that Mashaba had another pre-existing medical condition.

Zuma pleaded not guilty to the charges of culpable homicide and negligent driving.

(Compiled by Gopolang Chawane, Additional reporting by ANA)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.