Cops
out to tarnish my name : Zulu - 31 July
Durban businessman and socialite Prince Sifiso Zulu has repeatedly
claimed that he was not driving his vehicle in March 2008 when it
was involved in an accident that left two people dead. He also
claimed that police were out to tarnish his name and reputation by
spreading false stories about his involvement in the accident. Next
week Zulu is expected to have his day in court when he stands trial
on charges relating to the hit-and-run accident. His trial is to
start in the Durban Regional Court on Monday. - IOL
website
Cele
interfered : crash-scene officer - 4 August
Yesterday, a Durban metro police officer told the Durban
Magistrate's Court that he did not understand why Cele, then
KwaZulu-Natal's transport MEC, had arrived at the scene of the
accident and had insisted that the vehicle be returned to its owner.
Captain Shane Spilsbury, who saw the BMW "shoot a red robot at
high speed" before crashing into a bakkie, said Cele arrived 20
minutes after the collision. "[He] wasn't happy. I wondered why
he [got] involved. I pointed out to him that the vehicle was falsely
registered and that the driver must have been drinking, but he didn't
believe me. I had to radio to the control room so he could hear that
the vehicle was falsely registered", Spilsbury said. - The
Times website
Cele
'interfered after fatal crash' - 4 August
It was alleged at the start of Zulu's trial, bottles of alcohol were
found in his BMW after it had smashed at high speed into a
double-cab bakkie that had been carrying 12 members of the Souls
Harbour ministry. Asked by prosecutor Mark Dyson if Cele knew
who the vehicle belonged to, Captain Shane Spilsbury replied :
"He must have known who he was because he wanted the car given
back to him". Spilsbury said that moments after the accident he
noticed two men - one with dreadlocks and the other wearing khaki -
run past his car. Later that evening, he was summoned by radio to go
to Durban Central Police Station. "As I was going up the stairs
to the charge office, I noticed an African male sitting on the wall.
Something made me stop and turn around. His clothing fitted the
description. He said Zulu's eyes were bloodshot, his speech was
slurred and he smelt of alcohol. He also kept rubbing his chest and
arms. Answering a question from the magistrate, he said that at the
time it had "crossed my mind that it was because of an airbag
injury". - IOL website
'Zulu
was drunk' - 5 August
On the night his BMW shot a red robot and crashed into a bakkie,
killing two people, Durban businessman Sifiso Zulu told police that
a "Dumisani Ngcobo", who worked with the provincial
government in Pietermaritzburg, had been driving his car. However,
he had been unable to supply an address or telephone number for him.
In terms of the Road Traffic Act, the owner of a vehicle is deemed
to be the driver unless he can prove otherwise. - IOL
website
'I
heard a loud bang' - 4 August
In his evidence before the court on Tuesday, paramedic Tristan
Manning who was nearby when the accident happened, said more lives
would have been lost if immediate medical attention had not been
given. - IOL website
Zulu's
'driver' refused to talk - 7 August
Ten days after his BMW crashed into a bakkie killing two people, and
telling police that a Dumisani Ngcobo had been driving his car that
night, Durban businessman Sifiso Zulu brought another man to the
police, alleging he was the driver. But the man, Bongumusa Gumede,
had refused to say anything and by then police did not
"entirely believe" Zulu. This was the evidence of
investigating officer Inspector Blessing Ndlovu before Durban
Regional Court Magistrate Thomas Nhleko on Thursday. - IOL
website
Zulu
crash 'driver' risks being charged - 9 August
The man who told police he had been driving "Prince"
Sifiso Zulu's BMW X5 at the time of a fatal high-speed crash in
Durban last year, could be charged with defeating the ends of
justice if Zulu is convicted in the Durban Magistrate's Court. - IOL
website
A
connected Zulu on trial - 9 August
New police National Commissioner Bheki Cele's intervention in a
hit-and-run accident allegedly involving businessman Sifiso Zulu
faded into irrelevance at the latter's culpable homicide trial,
which started at the Durban Regional Court this week. The question
of who was driving Zulu's BMW X5 sport utility vehicle in March last
year provides the key to whether the politically connected Zulu will
spend time in jail or not. - Mail
& Guardian website