SA President's son Edward Zuma evades arrest

President Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward Zuma, has managed to evade arrest for the past seven months after failing to respond to several subpoenas to appear in court for child maintenance.

According to the Sunday Independent, the warrant of arrest was issued on 23 June by the Pietermaritzburg Maintenance Court and had to be served by police in Durban North where Edward lives.


However, this has not happened despite repeated attempts by the attorneys, acting for the child’s mother, to get police to serve the warrant.

The newspaper reports that at least eight subpoenas to appear in court were issued to Edward between 18 March and 23 June last year but all were ignored. A warrant of arrest was then issued and forwarded to the Durban North police for delivery. However, no one served it.
Provincial police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane told the newspaper that police would investigate the matter.


According to the child’s mother, Edward acknowledges the child as his own and visits him but does not contribute in any way to his maintenance.
Edward meanwhile told the newspaper that he had no knowledge of the subpoenas or of the warrant of arrest.
This is not however, the first time that Edward has been in trouble with the authorities. Early last year, News24 reported that he was embroiled in a heated battle with the South African Revenue Services over allegedly dealing in contraband cigarettes.
At the time it was reported that his battle with SARS stretched back to 2011. His company, Amalgamated Tobacco Manufacturing (ATM) was given a 25 January deadline to reply to SARS’s allegations. They also claim he has under-declared turnover to hide millions of rands in profit.
Zuma’s saga erupted in 2011 when SARS officials descended on his Pietermaritzburg factory. After seizing goods they shut the plant down. However, it was later reopened. Zuma however has accused SARS of corruption, racism and running a smear campaign against him.
In addition to this, he was sued by a wedding co-ordinator for R1.5m in 2012 after failing to pay them for his big day. In the same year, Ithala Development Finance Corporation took him to court after he apparently defaulted on two loans, one worth R4.4m and another of R512 000.
He was also sued by a state-owned development bank for defaulting on a R5m loan.

- News24