Gerrie Nel looking to privately prosecute 'person in Zuma's inner circle'

16th November 2017 By: News24Wire

Gerrie Nel looking to privately prosecute 'person in Zuma's inner circle'

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel
Photo by: Reuters

The "Bulldog", former prosecutor Advocate Gerrie Nel, will now sink his teeth into an unnamed person in President Jacob Zuma's inner circle for private prosecution.

AfriForum, which Nel now works for, will on Thursday announce the private prosecution of who the organisation says is a "very prominent person in President Jacob Zuma's inner circle".

In October, AfriForum's private prosecuting unit announced that the first person they would be prosecuting is Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma, for culpable homicide in the death of Phumzile Dube who was killed in February 2014 after Duduzane's Porsche collided with the taxi in which she was travelling.

In August 2015, the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) decided not to prosecute the president's son after Magistrate Lalitha Chetty had found during a formal judicial inquest into the death that there was prima facie evidence that Dube's death had been caused by the younger Zuma's negligent actions.

In her judgment at the time, Chetty disclosed that she did not use the standard criminal proof – beyond a reasonable doubt, but that she had applied a less stringent standard.

The family had received only R5 000 from the taxi association and no other compensation.

Nel said AfriForum wanted to make sure all were equal before the law. He said he was very proud of the family for allowing justice to run its course.

"For us, it's equality before the law, there are no selective prosecutions."

Nel said he had submitted an application to the NPA on behalf of the Dube family to obtain a nolle prosequi certificate, a formal notice confirming that the matter would not be pursued by the authority. He said as soon as AfriForum received the certificate, the process to prosecute Zuma would begin.

"There exist no valid grounds for the NPA to decline to prosecute Zuma, and the Dube family deserves that justice is served and that the case is not treated differently as a result of who the perpetrator is," Nel said.