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Probe into how Zulu left courtDate Posted: Friday 02-May-2008The management at the Durban magistrate's court building is probing how businessman Prince Sifiso Zulu gained access to a restricted area when leaving the court building after appearing there on a drunken driving charge last week.
Area court manager Khumbulani Kheswa told The Mercury this week that an "internal investigation" was being undertaken to prevent such incidents from recurring.
The Mercury reported that Zulu had been taken from an area generally restricted to police and court staff in a metro police vehicle which had driven him out of the building through the north-west exit/entrance.
The report was based on the accounts of witnesses, interviewed by The Mercury's reporter a minute or two after the metro vehicle had left the building, who said they saw Zulu in the vehicle.
The reporter saw the vehicle from a distance but could not personally identify its occupants because it was too far away.
Municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe suggested The Mercury had fabricated the story.
"Based on my own investigations... this appears to be a complete fabrication," he said.
The Mercury re-interviewed the main witness to the event this week. In view of his position he asked that his identity be withheld. He remained adamant that Zulu had been in the vehicle "with the NDM plates".
Metro police vehicles have NDM registration numbers.
The man, who was in a good position to view the sequence of events, said there had been four people in the exiting vehicle, "which had slightly tinted windows".
He said Zulu had been sitting in the back, on the left. The witness and a companion had not noted the vehicle's full registration number.
He said the car in which Zulu and his bodyguards had arrived - a grey Mercedes-Benz - had remained parked in the public parking lot at all times.
The Mercury asked to view footage taken by security cameras positioned in the restricted area to verify the information. Permission was declined by the justice department.
Clearly
But Kheswa, who viewed the footage, agreed to answer questions about what he had seen.
Replying to written questions, he said cameras clearly showed Zulu leaving through the north-west exit.
"It shows him and his guards leaving the building to the parking area and waiting for transport. It also shows two guards leaving the premises, going towards the public parking area on foot.
"Later, a metro police vehicle is seen leaving the premises. The footage does not show the registration number of the vehicle."
There was no footage of Zulu leaving the premises on foot, but neither did the footage show Zulu getting into any vehicle.
The footage also did not show any of the court staff in the company of Zulu. There was another person, but he was not identified.
"The area in question is reserved for parking and, in a sense, restricted to police, cleaners, other officials and maintenance staff. How Mr Zulu accessed it is under internal investigation, with a view to prevent re-occurrence," said Kheswa.
Zulu's court appearance that day was in connection with a 2006 drunken driving charge.
He was arrested when police became aware of an outstanding warrant of arrest for that charge while grilling him about a recent fatal hit-and-run accident in which his BMW X5 was involved.
Two students died in the accident on March 29, at the intersection of Masabalala Yengwa (NMR) Avenue, when Zulu's car allegedly jumped a red traffic light and smashed into a bakkie carrying 12 people returning from a church service. The driver fled.
Zulu denied that he was driving the vehicle at the time. Asked to identify the driver, he supplied the police with the names of two people.
No arrests have been made, although the fatal accident occurred more than a month ago. This has led to suggestions of a cover-up.
While the police are still investigating, the church has reportedly hired private investigators to probe the accident.
Zulu will appear in court again next month on the 2006 drunken driving charge.
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