Duduzane Zuma's lawyer could find himself in a bizarre legal situation

More than a decade ago, interim Judge Mike Hellens rendered a decision that helped to define the law on legal causation. But now that he has returned to his defender position and that he has chosen Duduzane Zuma as a client, Hellens may have to fight against his own decision.

In 2006, Hellens was the president of S v Tembani, a case involving a Tembisa man who shot his girlfriend in a tantrum. The young woman was rushed to hospital, but received negligent medical treatment and died later of her injuries.

Tembani tried to argue that he should not be charged with murder rather than attempted murder because of the negligence of the hospital, but
Hellens ruled that a poor health care system in no way absolved the attacker of responsibility for his death.

It is this case law, reinforced later by the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal that was in agreement with Hellens, which allowed the state to make the case. Zuma charge a second guilty homicide leader.

On Thursday, in Randburg City Court, Zuma is accused of being responsible for the deaths of two people after his reckless conduct led to an accident between his Porsche 911 and a taxi minibus in 2014.

second relates to another taxi pbadenger, Nanki Mashaba, who died five months after the incident.

The state accuses Mashaba's death of being caused by the trauma caused by the trauma of the death of the young mother Phumzile Dube. the accident and even used S v Tembani to initiate the charge.

This is a bizarre situation for Hellens, who, when he decides to oppose the principles of S v Tembani, will essentially disagree with himself.

"It's quite possible and legal.It has different functions in this area.Medical defense lawyer Mike Hellens could argue against acting judge Mike Hellens," said a legal expert directly involved in the previous case who asked not to be named.

The expert stated that it was possible to argue that the case had been decided wrongly, but that it might not be necessary if Hellens chose to 39 to argue the facts of the case instead of the principles established by S v Tembani.

It is understood that the defense will argue that Mashaba's death was not related to the accident, challenging the state's causal links.

The state will likely have to prove that the injuries sustained during the incident directly resulted in his death. He will also have to explain why the National Prosecution Authority has not prosecuted for four years, since a 2014 investigation where Magistrate Lalita Chetty found that Zuma was driving recklessly and could be held accountable for death.

During this week's court proceedings, the case was postponed until August 8 to allow the disclosure of state evidence to the defense.

However, even though the proceedings were short, dramatic confrontations took place outside the court. AfriForum's CEO, Kallie Kriel, who is campaigning for Zuma to be charged since the 2014 investigation, only arrived in court to engage in a confrontation with Black's members. First Land First. (BLF)

BLF members, who claimed to support Zuma, prevented Kriel from entering the court building and accused him of being racist.

Meanwhile, Zuma's father,
the former president Jacob Zuma, was spotted in the court car park in a VIP protection vehicle, arrived too late and missing the court proceedings.

Duduzane Zuma also appeared this week at the Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg, where he was charged with corruption
for his alleged role in a bribe offered to former finance minister Mcebisi Jonas, apparently at the request of the controversial Gupta family.