NPA let Zuma's son off hook over taxi death

The NPA let President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane off the hook quietly eight months after an inquest magistrate ruled that he was responsible for the death of a young woman in a car accident. Despite the high-profile nature of the case, the national prosecutor has never made its decision public, notes a Business Day report. Randburg Magistrate Lalitha Chetty ruled on 11 December 2014 that Duduzane had been negligent when the Porsche he was driving collided with a taxi on the M1 highway. Two women who were travelling in the taxi died. Phumzile Dube died at the scene, while Jeanette Mashaba died in hospital a few weeks after the crash. Mashaba’s death was ruled the result of natural causes. Duduzane maintained that his high-powered Porsche had hit a puddle of water and lost control, veering into the taxi, which in turn smashed into the barrier. Shortly after the accident, the NPA decided for the first time not to prosecute based on the existing insufficient evidence and referred the case to a Magistrate’s Court for a formal inquest. At the inquest, Chetty found ‘the death of the deceased Phumzile Dube was prima facie brought about by the negligent act of suspect 2, Mr (Duduzane) Zuma’.

The Business Day report says that leaked e-mails revealed that Zuma’s lawyer, Gary Mazaham, was later informed that the NPA would not be prosecuting him criminally. David Maree, the advocate who represented Dube’s family, said he was surprised at the NPA’s decision not to prosecute. ‘My understanding was from a law point of view that when someone is responsible for a death or an accident, then the next procedure would be a criminal matter that would follow against the person,’ Maree said. An NPA source close to the case reportedly echoed Maree, saying they were surprised by the decision not to prosecute because it was ‘clear that Zuma should have been prosecuted for his negligence’. NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said the decision not to prosecute came after an assessment of the evidence of witnesses and of the experts who gave evidence at the inquest, which indicated the state would not have been able to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt. ‘The finding of the magistrate is based on a balance of probabilities. The standard of proof in a criminal trial, beyond reasonable doubt, cannot be met on the available evidence.’ Mfaku also confirmed that the original accident sketch and statement given by Duduzane to Sandton police, which disappeared before the inquest, had still not been found.