Durban - Durban socialite and businessman Prince Sifiso Zulu walked out of prison a free man on Monday after serving nine months of his three-year prison sentence.
He left Sevontein prison at 4am and made his way to the Durban community corrections centre in Durban, where he was released on parole.
Dressed in a black suit, Zulu arrived with a prison warder at the centre, where he was registered on the parole system.
His parole conditions were explained to him and he left about 20 minutes later, giving the media the slip.
Yesterday, KwaZulu-Natal correctional services commissioner Mnikelwa Nxele dismissed claims that Zulu was being favoured and released on early parole.
Nxele said: “There is nothing underhanded about Zulu’s release.
“The details of his parole are all contained in his file. It is all above board.
“If he had breached his bail conditions, his R5 000 bail would have been forfeited to the state.
“The state attorney office has confirmed the money has not been forfeited. He can collect that money.”
Last month, he applied for an 18-month special remission of sentence - announced by President Jacob Zuma in April.
Zulu was sentenced to five years in jail (two years of which were suspended) and fined R7 500 for various offences, including reckless or negligent driving, failure to stop at a red traffic light, failure to stop after an accident and driving under the influence of alcohol.
In December, he tearfully confessed to killing two people while driving drunk, as part of the Department of Correctional Services victim/offender dialogue programme.
He made the public confession at a KwaZulu-Natal Department of Correctional Services victim-offender dialogue in Richards Bay.
Five years ago, Zulu drove his BMW X5 through a red traffic light in Durban and collided with a bakkie carrying 12 congregants from the Soul’s Harbour Ministries Church, resulting in the deaths of two passengers and injuries to 10 others.
Daily News