Dismissing Sifiso Zulu’s appeal on Friday, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen described the socialite and businessman as a remorseless amateur who tried in vain to deceive the court.
Zulu, 37, was convicted of culpable homicide for the 2008 deaths of Nonjabulo Ncube and Hlengiwe Yvonne Dlamini, for reckless or negligent driving, failing to stop at a red traffic light, failing to stop after an accident, and of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Zulu pleaded not guilty and denied that he was the driver of his BMW X5 at the time of the accident. In convicting Zulu, trial court magistrate, T Nhleko, found that a non-custodial sentence was not suitable.
He sentenced Zulu to five years’ imprisonment, two years of which were conditionally suspended.
Nhleko said Zulu had denied that he had been the driver of the vehicle in spite of clear evidence to the contrary.
He was released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal, but after Koen delivered his judgment he had to present himself to authorities within 48 hours of being served with notice from the courts.
Zulu, who has business interests and is a past president of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, had argued in his appeal that the court had erred in its assessment of relevant evidence and failed to have relevant regard for the evidence regarding the identity of the man he claimed was the driver – Bongumusa Gumede.
It was argued that the State could not prosecute Zulu for the driving conduct of someone else.
Zulu submitted that the State had taken a vindictive position in seeking to punish him and portraying him “in sensational terms as a drunk-driving thug who should be harshly dealt with”.
Koen, however, stated in his judgment that he had “no hesitation” in rejecting Zulu’s version as false beyond all reasonable doubt. He described the accident as horrific and Zulu’s approach to his defence as “novel”.
“It was a strategy designed to mislead the court, but was devised in an extremely amateurish manner,” Koen said.
Koen said that Zulu was fortunate to have escaped with such a lenient sentence which he found to be “entirely inappropriate”.
Daily News