Duduzane Zuma has told the Randburg magistrate's court that
he sympathises with the families of the two people who died when his Porsche
collided with a minibus taxi in 2014.
"It's a traumatic experience for everybody. I was
fortunate to walk away with my life. I take responsibility for what happened. I
do sympathise with people who were affected," Zuma said when he took the
stand yesterday.
He is facing a charge of culpable homicide, to which he has
pleaded not guilty. Minibus taxi passengers Phumzile Dube and Jeanette Mashaba
died after Zuma's car crashed into a minibus taxi on the M1 South near the
Grayston turnoff in Johannesburg.
In his previous court appearance, Zuma had applied for a
discharge. Magistrate Tebogo Thupaatlase found, however, that Zuma had a case
to answer.
The family of Dube said they were struggling to deal with
the ongoing court case. Family of woman killed in Duduzane Zuma crash having a
'difficult' time
This is according to Elias Maangwale, a senior private
investigator at AfriForum's private investigation unit.
"It's difficult for the family, especially the mother
of the deceased. But we are happy that the accused is in the box, under
cross-examination," Maangwale said.
Presenting his defence, Zuma told the court that he did not
know that he had collided with another vehicle after he lost control of his
car.
"I'm not sure what happened when the car was
spinning," he said. Zuma said the car spun and veered to the left, from the
right-hand lane, after he hit a puddle of water on the road.
He said he did not see the pool of water before losing
control of the vehicle.
"It would have been difficult to spot the pool of
water. It was raining, there was poor visibility. Seeing pools of water is
impossible in poor lighting. In my perspective, it was impossible to avoid what
happened," Zuma said.
After he hit the water, Zuma said he lost control of his
car. He said that he had reduced his speed from 120km/h when it started to rain
heavily.
The trial continues. Sowetan
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