An accused, Jabulani Zuma, who is implicated in the murder of Kimberley businessman Piet Els, on Wednesday told the Northern Cape High Court that he is indeed the biological son of former president Jacob Zuma.
AN ACCUSED, Jabulani Zuma, who is implicated in the murder of Kimberley businessman Piet Els, on Wednesday morning told the Northern Cape High Court, through his legal representative, that he is indeed the biological son of former president Jacob Zuma.
Zuma is on trial with six co-accused. They are charged with murder, robbery and illegal possession of firearms related to the incident that occurred on January 24, 2018, where Els and his partner were attacked and tortured on his farm outside Kimberley.
Els succumbed to his injuries in Mediclinic Gariep on May 15, 2018, after spending 111 days in the hospital.
According to the testimony of the investigating officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Doggie Magugu, on the day that Zuma was arrested in Mtubatuba, Richards Bay, Magugu met with an elderly man who introduced himself as the accused’s father.
Magugu stated that the man he met was not former president Jacob Zuma.
However, in court on Wednesday Zuma gave instruction to his legal representative, advocate Chande Booysen, to inform the court that the former president was indeed his biological father.
“It is my instruction to inform you that the elderly man you met on the premises where you (Magugu) arrested accused seven (Jabulani Zuma), was the stepfather to the accused. The former president, Jacob Zuma, is the biological father of accused seven,” said Booysen.
“The former president had a personal relationship with the mother of accused seven and that was when he was conceived. Accused seven’s biological father, former president Jacob Zuma and the mother of accused seven were, however, never married to each other. The mother to accused seven entered into a relationship with another man, who raised accused seven. Hence, accused seven referred to the man who was found on the premises on the day of his arrest as his father.”
Booysen also continued to argue the innocence of her client.
She stated that although Magugu testified that cellphone data linked Zuma to the crime, there was in fact no conclusive evidence that placed her client at the scene of the crime, nor were there any witnesses who could identify him as being part of the attack on Els and his partner.
Zuma and two other accused are in custody while the four other accused are out on bail.
The trial continues.
